The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has clarified that the Federal Government’s ₦10bn emergency intervention fund, approved in June 2026 amid the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was not exclusively meant to tackle Ebola but to strengthen Nigeria’s preparedness against multiple public health threats.
The agency’s Director-General, Dr Jide Idris, disclosed this in a statement on Monday while addressing public concerns over the allocation following Nigeria’s confirmation of an imported Ebola case in October.
Idris explained that the funding was intended to strengthen disease prevention, preparedness, early detection, rapid response and recovery across several public health threats, including Ebola, Lassa fever, cholera, cerebrospinal meningitis, diphtheria, measles, monkeypox and antimicrobial resistance.
He also clarified that the ₦10bn was released directly to the NCDC and not the Presidential Task Force on Ebola, chaired by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.
“Was the money released to the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on EVD, chaired by the Chief of Staff to the President? No.
“The PTF was established primarily to coordinate the national response. The ₦10 billion in question was released to NCDC to address the broader health security needs outlined above,” Idris said.
The NCDC chief criticised what he described as attempts by political actors to misrepresent the purpose of the intervention fund, warning against the spread of misinformation during public health emergencies.
“It is unfortunate that political actors sometimes fail to distinguish responsible opposition from calumny and, in some cases, outright mischief. Health security is a matter of national security and should not be reduced to partisan contestation.
“Politicians and other public commentators must avoid fuelling infodemics, particularly during public health emergencies when accurate information and public trust are indispensable,” he added.
₦10bn represents two per cent of annual health security funding requirement
Idris said the ₦10bn allocation was relatively small compared with the country’s broader health security funding requirements, noting that Nigeria needs an estimated ₦104.4bn annually to implement its National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) 2.0.
According to him, the five-year plan, covering 2025 to 2029, has an estimated implementation cost of ₦522bn.
He explained that the ₦10bn intervention fund represents approximately two per cent of the plan’s average annual cost, arguing that the allocation should be assessed against the scale of investment required to protect the country from public health emergencies.
“The estimated cost of implementing NAPHS 2.0 alone is approximately ₦522 billion over five years. This translates to an average of about ₦104.4 billion annually. Although not all NAPHS activities are funded through NCDC, this figure illustrates the scale of investment required to protect Nigerians against public health threats.
“Also, the comparison is instructive: ₦10 billion represents about two per cent of the plan’s average annual cost. It should therefore not be presented as an excessive allocation without considering the scale of Nigeria’s health security needs and the range of activities it is intended to support,” the NCDC director-general said.
NCDC’s budgetary allocation rises to ₦22bn
The NCDC chief also disclosed that the agency’s budgetary allocation increased from ₦4bn in 2024 to ₦7bn in 2025, while the 2026 Appropriation provides ₦22bn.
He added that the Federal Government approved a separate ₦5bn intervention fund in 2025 before President Bola Tinubu authorised the additional ₦10bn in June 2026, following the escalation of the Ebola outbreak in the DRC into a global health emergency.
Despite the increased funding, Idris said Nigeria’s health security financing gap remained substantial.
Citing estimates by the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, he said countries require between $1 and $2 per person annually to achieve an acceptable level of epidemic preparedness.
“For about 240 million Nigerians, that is US$240 million to US$480 million a year. Sustained investment from government, States and partners will close that gap,” he said.
Idris called for transparency and accountability in the management of public health resources, stressing that sustained investment was necessary to prevent disease outbreaks from escalating into emergencies capable of disrupting livelihoods, overwhelming healthcare facilities and imposing greater economic costs on the country.
He maintained that the central issue should not be whether Nigeria could afford to invest adequately in health security, but whether it could afford the human, social and economic consequences of failing to do so.
Nigeria’s Ebola response
Nigeria confirmed its first imported case of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola on October 20, 2026, after a 42-year-old woman who had travelled from Uganda tested positive in Abuja.
Following the confirmation, health authorities activated contact tracing, surveillance, quarantine and monitoring measures to prevent further transmission.
The index patient, who was reported to be clinically improved, stable and conscious, was evacuated to Switzerland on October 26 alongside her husband, who was identified as a close contact.
The NCDC subsequently identified 62 contacts linked to the confirmed case, with monitoring expected to continue until November 13, 2026.
