FG considers flight restrictions as Ebola threat grows

The Federal Government is considering imposing restrictions on flights from countries affected by the Ebola virus as part of renewed efforts to prevent any outbreak in Nigeria.

The Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, disclosed this on Thursday after a high level strategic meeting in Victoria Island, Lagos, convened to review the country’s Ebola preparedness and response framework.

Gbajabiamila, who chaired the meeting, said the proposed restrictions could be accompanied by the isolation of passengers displaying symptoms associated with Ebola at the nation’s entry points.

The meeting was attended by key government officials, including the Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Jide Idris; the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo; and the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi.

Gbajabiamila said President Bola Tinubu had been fully briefed on the Ebola situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, adding that the administration was determined to ensure Nigeria records no case of the disease.

According to him, the government remains committed to strengthening surveillance systems, emergency response mechanisms and inter agency coordination to protect public health.

“We have a health scare, which is Ebola, and we all know what happened the last time. The cases are getting worse internationally and worldwide, and we do not want to leave anything to chance,” he said.

He added that discussions at the meeting focused on possible restrictions on flights from affected countries, the isolation of symptomatic passengers, and the use of cargo terminals for screening travellers arriving from high risk areas.

“We believe prevention is better than cure, and where some passengers slip through the cracks, then we must have ways of dealing with situations such as that,” he said.

The Minister of Interior, Tunji-Ojo, said all points of entry into the country would be subjected to stricter monitoring to prevent any possible outbreak.

He said the Nigeria Immigration Service would collaborate closely with the NCDC to strengthen early detection and rapid response systems.

The NCDC director general, Dr Idris, warned that Ebola remains a highly severe viral disease, stressing the need for sustained vigilance, especially among healthcare workers.

He said preparedness plans had already been activated across the 36 states and that public enlightenment campaigns would be intensified to educate Nigerians on prevention and response measures.

“We have our preparedness plan covering all state governments and all ports of entry,” he said.

“This particular virus has no treatment and no vaccines. So it is the public health measures that need to be done — isolation, quick detection, public enlightenment, infection prevention and control.”

He added that the NCDC had already issued advisories and was engaging healthcare workers, who remain among the most vulnerable groups during outbreaks.

The World Health Organization has recorded 10 confirmed and 223 suspected Ebola deaths in the DR Congo since the outbreak was declared in mid May, from more than 1,000 confirmed and suspected cases.

Its director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that prolonged insecurity in eastern DR Congo was making efforts to contain the outbreak increasingly difficult.