The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has clarified that the ₦10 billion emergency intervention fund approved by President Bola Tinubu in June 2026 was allocated to strengthen the nation’s overall health security against multiple disease threats, rather than exclusively for Ebola response.
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The Director-General of the NCDC, Dr. Jide Idris, made the clarification in a statement issued on Monday, November 2, 2026, addressing public questions surrounding the disbursement following the confirmation of an imported Ebola case in Abuja in October.
Dr. Idris explained that the emergency funds were requested to enhance prevention, early detection, laboratory capacity, and rapid response mechanisms for several public health threats, including Lassa fever, cholera, cerebrospinal meningitis, diphtheria, measles, mpox, and antimicrobial resistance.
He emphasized that the ₦10 billion was released directly to the NCDC to execute technical health operations, not to the Presidential Task Force on Ebola chaired by Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila, which functions primarily as a cross-ministerial coordinating body.
Addressing critics who labeled the allocation excessive, Dr. Idris noted that the amount covers barely two percent of the requirements under Nigeria’s Second National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS 2.0). The five-year plan, spanning 2025 to 2029, requires an estimated ₦522 billion—or roughly ₦104.4 billion annually—to adequately safeguard the country against epidemic outbreaks.
Reiterating the agency’s commitment to transparency, the NCDC chief urged the public and political stakeholders to avoid politicizing health security matters while surveillance and contact-monitoring activities remain active across affected areas.
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