The Federal Government has rolled out a comprehensive national genomic surveillance strategy as part of efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s health security and prepare for emerging public health challenges.
The News Chronicle gathered that coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, made this known through his official X handle while highlighting ongoing reforms under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Pate explained that the initiative is designed to make Nigeria’s health system more resilient and agile, capable of detecting and containing both new and recurring diseases, while contributing to global health safety.
According to him, the launch of the National Genomic Surveillance Strategy and the Nigeria Genomics Consortium marks a significant shift in the way the country will monitor, detect, and respond to disease outbreaks. He further revealed that genomics had been integrated into Nigeria’s antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance framework, with the country set to host the 5th Global Ministerial High-Level Conference on AMR in Abuja in 2026.
While acknowledging international partnerships, the Minister stressed that Nigeria was increasingly mobilising domestic resources to safeguard its population of over 200 million.
Highlighting progress made by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Pate said the agency had commissioned the Integrated Disease Reference Laboratory in Lagos for neglected tropical diseases, malaria, and fungal infections. New diagnostic centres for Mpox and Lassa fever have also been established, while 13 laboratories across states have been upgraded to shorten the turnaround time for outbreak confirmation.
He added that the National Reference Laboratory had secured the ISO 15189 accreditation, and the Central Public Health Laboratory attained a five-star rating. A new laboratory data management system with real-time dashboards has also been deployed to speed up detection and response to epidemic-prone diseases.
The Minister further disclosed the operationalisation of the Nigeria Preparedness and Readiness Alert System (NPRAS), a risk-based predictive platform already in use across eight vulnerable states to improve hazard profiling and donor coordination.
On capacity building, Pate noted that more than 325 Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) focal persons from tertiary, secondary, and private health facilities are undergoing professional certification. He also pointed out that Nigeria’s Joint External Evaluation (JEE) score had risen from 39 per cent in 2017 to 54 per cent in 2023, reflecting better preparedness for epidemics.
“These reforms represent President Tinubu’s compact with Nigerians to reform national institutions, focus on merit, and strengthen processes so that our country can safeguard its people and contribute to global health security,” he said.
Public health analysts, however, observed that while Nigeria is recording progress in genomics, laboratory networks, and workforce development, significant gaps remain. They warned that community-level disease surveillance is still weak, with many laboratories established during COVID-19 now inactive due to poor governance and maintenance.
Experts emphasised that Nigeria’s reliance on donor-driven emergency responses is unsustainable. They recommended a costed five-year National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) with multi-sectoral collaboration and accountability.
They also cited recent outbreaks—including cholera in Zamfara, which killed eight people and infected more than 200, and meningitis, which triggered the deployment of one million vaccines across 23 states—as reminders of the nation’s vulnerabilities.
