Anietie Udobit, Abuja
Nigeria has intensified nationwide disease surveillance after the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) officially placed several strategic states on high-risk alert over fears of possible Ebola virus importation from Central Africa.
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The development follows worsening outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where health authorities and international agencies continue to battle rising infections, fatalities, and humanitarian complications worsened by conflict and displacement.
The states currently under heightened surveillance include Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory, Rivers, Kano, Kaduna, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Ogun, Cross River, Borno and several others considered major entry corridors due to their airports, seaports, and commercial movements.
The Federal Government has activated emergency preparedness mechanisms across international airports, land borders, teaching hospitals, and infectious disease centres. Health workers have also been directed to immediately report suspected symptoms, especially among international travelers.
The Ebola virus, one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, causes severe fever, bleeding complications, organ failure, and has historically recorded fatality rates ranging from 25 to 90 percent depending on response speed and healthcare infrastructure.
Public health experts fear that increased migration, porous borders, insecurity in parts of Central Africa, and weak regional health systems could accelerate cross-border transmission if preventive systems fail.
The World Health Organization has already elevated global monitoring efforts. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus personally traveled to the DRC to coordinate emergency interventions amid fears that conflict zones are complicating containment operations.
Though Nigeria currently has no confirmed Ebola case, memories remain fresh from the country’s heroic containment of the 2014 Ebola outbreak after Liberian-American diplomat Patrick Sawyer entered Lagos.
Medical analysts say Nigeria’s earlier success was driven by aggressive contact tracing, rapid isolation, public communication, and coordinated federal-state action.
Public health observers are now urging authorities not to repeat mistakes witnessed during previous outbreaks where emergency systems became reactive instead of preventive.
Citizens have also been advised to avoid panic while maintaining strict hygiene practices, avoiding contact with bodily fluids of sick persons, and immediately reporting suspicious symptoms.
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