Tinubu Sets Up Ebola Task Force, Okays N10bn Emergency Fund

0

ABUJA – President Bola Tinubu has ap­proved the establishment of a Presidential Task Force on Eb­ola Virus Disease Preparedness and Emerging Public Health Threats.

The president also ordered the immediate release of N10 billion as emergency interven­tion funding.

A statement by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Tuesday, noted that the fund will strengthen the operational preparedness of the National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and support critical national public health emergency response activities.

Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, has been mandated to chair the Task Force, with other membership drawn from relevant Ministries, Depart­ments, and Agencies (MDAs) and state representatives.

Recall that Ebola recently re­surfaced in the Democratic Re­public of Congo (DRC) and Ugan­da, both neighbouring countries.

The president’s approval fol­lowed a stakeholder meeting con­vened under the chairmanship of the Chief of Staff to review Ni­geria’s preparedness and develop strategies against the possible im­portation of Ebola into Nigeria.

Other critical stakeholders at the meeting included repre­sentatives from the Ministry of Interior, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Lagos State government, and others.

Tinubu also directed all states hosting international airports and international border corri­dors, as well as relevant MDAs, to submit their plans, funding requirements and intervention needs for consideration and co­ordinated implementation.

Additional measures to be put in place by the Task Force are: In­tensification of passenger screen­ing at all international airports, including enhanced tempera­ture checks and crowd-control protocols; enhanced monitoring of passengers arriving through high-risk airline routes includ­ing Air Uganda, Rwanda Air, Air Tanzania, Air Angola, Kenya Airways, and Ethiopian Airlines; and immediate activation of refer­ral and isolation centres at Lagos and Abuja international airports, with other airports to follow.

Others include: Mandatory activation of QR code-based pre-arrival health declaration systems for passengers originat­ing from or transiting through designated high-risk countries, and disinfection of departure halls, cargoes, baggage areas, and airport facilities as precaution­ary environmental measures.

The president mandated that the advisory group to consult with security, diplomatic, and avi­ation bodies with a view to reg­ulating flights from affected and designated high-risk countries.

The Task Force is further directed to designate specific airports or terminals for high-risk flights to enable controlled screening and isolation proce­dures, and to consider adjusting flight timings to minimise inter­action between high-risk passen­gers and others.