The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has placed Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Kano, Rivers and six other states on high-risk alert over the potential importation of the deadly Bundibugyo strain of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).
The warning follows a fresh risk assessment by the agency, which classified Nigeria’s likelihood of recording an imported case as high amid the worsening Ebola outbreak in East and Central Africa.
In a public health advisory sent to health commissioners across the 36 states and the FCT, the NCDC directed authorities to urgently strengthen disease surveillance, isolation facilities and infection prevention measures to guard against a possible outbreak.
The move comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the escalating Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
Although Nigeria has yet to record a confirmed case, the NCDC warned that ongoing transmission in the region poses a significant threat. Data from affected areas show 1,077 suspected cases and 247 deaths, representing a fatality rate of 24.6 per cent.
According to the agency, Nigeria’s vulnerability is heightened by heavy international travel, large-scale population movement, busy seaports and porous land borders that facilitate cross-border transmission.
Based on exposure risks and travel patterns, the NCDC identified 10 states as the country’s highest-risk zones requiring enhanced preparedness measures.
They are Lagos, FCT, Rivers, Kano, Enugu, Borno, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Taraba and Adamawa.
The agency stressed that while all states must maintain basic outbreak response systems, the identified high-risk states should immediately scale up diagnostic capacity, strengthen surveillance and ensure dedicated isolation centres are ready for deployment.
