The Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, NCDC, Dr. Jide Idris, has revealed that Nigeria is only 59 per cent prepared to respond to a possible Ebola outbreak, despite ongoing efforts to strengthen the country’s public health emergency response system.
Idris disclosed this during an interview on Arise Television on Monday, June 1, 2026, while addressing concerns over the resurgence of Ebola cases in parts of Africa, including Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to him, a recent assessment conducted by the NCDC showed that while Nigeria has made significant progress in disease surveillance and response, several gaps remain, particularly at the nation’s entry points and border communities.
“Our latest level of assessment puts us at about 59 per cent, You can never be 100 per cent prepared, but the essence is that we continue to improve our readiness because situations keep changing,” Idris said.
Idris admitted that the country is not fully prepared for an Ebola outbreak but noted that authorities are working to improve response capacity across all states of the federation.
He explained that teams have been deployed to evaluate isolation centres, emergency operations centres, laboratories and other critical infrastructure needed to contain any potential outbreak.
He also identified Nigeria’s porous borders as a major challenge, warning that uncontrolled movement across unofficial entry routes could increase the risk of disease importation.
The NCDC boss, however, expressed confidence in the country’s ability to respond effectively if an outbreak occurs, citing lessons learned from Nigeria’s successful containment of Ebola in 2014.
