The Federal Government has approved N45.08bn for the establishment of a national biosecurity and disease-response system at five international airports to strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to detect and contain infectious diseases entering the country.
The government also defended its decision to pay individuals quarantined following the recent Ebola case N100,000 weekly, describing the financial support as a measure to encourage compliance with isolation requirements and prevent the spread of the virus.
The Minister of Health and Coordinating Minister of Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, disclosed both decisions while briefing State House correspondents after Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the State House, Abuja.
The airport biosecurity project will be implemented under a 20-year public-private partnership arrangement with Biohealth Consortium.
The five airports covered by the initiative are the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos; Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja; Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano; Port Harcourt International Airport; and Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
Pate said the project, which had been under preparation for two years, was designed to address vulnerabilities in Nigeria’s public health security, particularly the risk of infectious diseases entering the country through international travel.
“The Federal Executive Council took another step to modernise our biosecurity system at the point of entry. It approved the implementation of the full business case for a national biosecurity and response system at five of our international airports through a public-private partnership,” the minister said.
He noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had exposed the need for stronger surveillance systems capable of identifying emerging health threats before they spread across national borders.
According to him, improving disease detection at airports is essential not only for protecting public health but also for safeguarding economic activities that could be disrupted by infectious disease outbreaks.
“Since COVID, we have known that there are significant vulnerabilities in terms of public health threats crossing borders, and the need for coordinated, technology-driven systems for early warning, detection, and response to emerging infectious disease threats,” Pate said.
He added, “Improving biosecurity at the points of entry, particularly at the airports, is so critical to our health security, not only for public health but also for economic security, because when pathogens come and disrupt, economic activities also suffer.”
The minister disclosed that Nigeria records more than 18 million passenger movements through its airports annually, making effective monitoring at international entry points a critical component of national health security.
The proposed system will incorporate technologies for detecting pathogens, including aircraft wastewater surveillance to identify disease threats associated with incoming flights.
Other components will include air and surface biosampling equipment, as well as surveillance technologies for cargo and baggage to detect potentially dangerous biological agents that might otherwise enter the country unnoticed.
Pate said the project would also establish a national surveillance operations centre to coordinate real-time monitoring, data integration, incident tracking and emergency responses.
Portable laboratory facilities would be deployed at points of entry to facilitate on-site testing and rapid identification of suspected infectious diseases.
Agencies expected to participate in the system include the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Port Health Services, the Nigeria Customs Service, the Nigeria Immigration Service and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control.
The minister said the initiative would strengthen cooperation among the agencies while improving Nigeria’s compliance with international health regulations.
“The implementation of this system will support evidence-based decision-making, improve inter-agency coordination, compliance with international health regulations, and our ability to deploy more advanced technologies beyond what we currently have through the existing public health services and the various agencies that are involved,” he stated.
Explaining the financing and implementation structure, Pate said the project would operate under a design, finance, build, operate and transfer arrangement.
Under the agreement, the private-sector partner will be responsible for financing, constructing, deploying, operating and maintaining the facilities throughout the 20-year concession period.
The Federal Government, he explained, would provide the necessary policy, institutional and regulatory oversight, while ownership of the assets would revert to the government at the end of the concession in line with the agreement.
He said the arrangement had been reviewed and endorsed by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, the agency responsible for regulating public-private partnership concessions.
Pate added that the five airports were selected based on passenger traffic, exposure to biosecurity risks and geographical distribution.
The approval comes amid heightened attention to Ebola preparedness following the recent confirmed case in Nigeria.
The minister said the country had maintained a task force at its points of entry for five months during the height of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo without recording a case until the first confirmed Nigerian case was detected on October 19 and 20.
WHY FG IS PAYING QUARANTINED EBOLA CONTACTS N100,000 WEEKLY
Defending the government’s decision to provide N100,000 weekly to people placed under quarantine, Pate said the intervention was intended to prevent financial difficulties from forcing exposed individuals to disregard isolation directives.
He explained that the government’s immediate priority was to identify people who had come into contact with the confirmed patient and ensure they remained isolated throughout the monitoring period.
“Our goal is to contain it. We don’t want to be in a situation whereby we have community transmission. The purpose of our measures is to ensure that her primary contacts, those she met once she became symptomatic, at the clinic, in the hospital, are all identified but also quarantined,” he said.
The minister warned that individuals who abandoned quarantine could expose unsuspecting members of the public to the virus through routine activities, including visits to markets and other public places.
He said some contacts were people who had provided transportation or other assistance to the patient and would ordinarily need to work to support their families.
“If they evade quarantine, they go to market. They can transmit it to innocent people out there. So it is so vital that we get their compliance,” Pate said.
He added that the government recognised the financial implications of requiring people to remain in isolation for an extended period without access to their normal sources of income.
According to the minister, the financial support was therefore a targeted containment measure rather than a general payment programme.
Pate stressed that the arrangement was intended to help Nigeria prevent a wider outbreak and would not necessarily apply if the country experienced community transmission.
He contrasted Nigeria’s containment efforts with the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where thousands of Ebola cases had been reported across multiple locations.
“In DRC, where there are thousands of cases, there is transmission in many places. Essentially, they will advise contacts to remain at home. There will be no need, because everybody has it. But here we have been extremely prudent,” he said.
The minister added, “By no means will it be applicable if we have the unfortunate situation of community transmission. This is so that we have the maximum defence.”
He explained that people identified as contacts were placed under quarantine within hours of the case being confirmed. Some initially observed isolation at home before being moved to designated facilities for closer monitoring.
Pate said the contacts would remain under observation for 21 days, corresponding to the maximum recognised incubation period for Ebola.
“They need to be quarantined for 21 days. Ebola has an incubation period of between two and 21 days, and we want to be sure that they did not get exposed because they have a history of contact with her,” he said.
He explained that keeping the contacts under close supervision would also allow health authorities to respond quickly if any of them developed symptoms or tested positive.
“If one of them is discovered to have contracted the virus, then because they are at hand, we can quickly circumscribe their own contacts so that it doesn’t spread,” Pate said.
The minister acknowledged that additional cases could still emerge but maintained that the government had put measures in place to contain any further transmission.
“We are not taking any chances. We may succeed, or there may be an unfortunate one or two cases that may be affected. But if that is the case, we will rapidly get on top of it,” he added.
Pate confirmed that, as of the time of the briefing, there was no positive Ebola case within Nigerian territory. He also said the patient whose infection prompted the response had recovered after receiving treatment in Nigeria and returned to her home country.
Reiterating the government’s position, the minister said Nigeria’s size and population made it necessary to maintain strict surveillance and prevent the circulation of Ebola and other dangerous pathogens.
“We are a large country, and we do not want to have Ebola circulating or other pathogens that may pose a threat to our population,” he stated.
