Response team members are helped to wear protective suits before burying a person suspected of having died from Ebola in Bunia, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 25, 2026.
BY FRONTLINE REPORTERS
The Federal Government has begun weighing tougher border control measures, including possible flight restrictions from Ebola-affected countries and the isolation of symptomatic passengers, as fears grow over the worsening outbreak in parts of Central and East Africa.
The fresh moves were disclosed on Thursday by the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, after a high-level emergency preparedness meeting in Victoria Island, Lagos.
The meeting, convened to assess Nigeria’s readiness against a possible Ebola incursion, brought together top health and security officials, including the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Jide Idris; Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo; and Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi.
Gbajabiamila said President Bola Tinubu had already been fully briefed on the Ebola situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, stressing that the government would leave nothing to chance in protecting Nigerians from another deadly outbreak.
“We have a health scare, which is Ebola, and we all know what happened the last time,” Gbajabiamila warned.
According to him, authorities are considering multiple preventive options, including restricting flights from countries of concern, isolating passengers showing symptoms associated with Ebola, and deploying special screening protocols at airports and cargo terminals.
He said the government’s strategy is anchored on prevention, rapid detection, and immediate containment.
“We looked at the possibility of isolating or using the cargo terminal to deal with passengers that are coming in from those areas, and of course, putting certain things in place, protocols in place; we believe that prevention is better than cure,” he stated.
The Minister of Interior, Tunji-Ojo, said all entry points into Nigeria would now come under tighter surveillance, adding that the Nigeria Immigration Service would collaborate closely with the NCDC to strengthen early detection systems and emergency response coordination.
On his part, NCDC Director-General, Dr. Idris, described Ebola as a highly dangerous viral disease requiring extreme vigilance, especially among frontline health workers.
He disclosed that preparedness plans had already been activated nationwide across all 36 states and ports of entry, while public enlightenment campaigns would soon be intensified.
“This particular virus has no treatment, no vaccines. So it’s the public health measures that need to be done — isolation, quick detection, public enlightenment, infection prevention and control,” Idris said.
He added that healthcare workers remain among the most vulnerable groups and are receiving special advisories and training as part of the government’s response strategy.
The latest concerns come amid worsening Ebola figures released by the World Health Organization, which said the outbreak in eastern DR Congo has already resulted in 10 confirmed deaths and 223 suspected deaths since mid-May, with over 1,000 confirmed and suspected infections recorded.
WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has warned that insecurity and prolonged conflict in eastern Congo are severely hampering efforts to contain the outbreak.
Nigeria previously earned global praise for successfully containing the 2014 Ebola outbreak through aggressive contact tracing, public awareness campaigns, and coordinated emergency response systems. Authorities now appear determined to avoid a repeat of that crisis as the new regional threat escalates.
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