FG Considers Flight Restrictions Over Ebola Threat In Africa

The federal government is considering the possibility of restricting flights from countries affected by the Ebola virus as part of renewed efforts to prevent any outbreak in Nigeria.

This was disclosed on Thursday by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, after a high-level strategic meeting held in Victoria Island, Lagos State, to assess the country’s Ebola preparedness and response framework.

Gbajabiamila, who presided over the meeting, said the proposed travel restrictions would be reinforced with the isolation of passengers displaying symptoms consistent with Ebola at Nigeria’s entry points.

The meeting had in attendance senior government officials, including the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Dr. Jide Idris; Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo; and Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, among others.

He also revealed that President Bola Tinubu had been briefed on the Ebola situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, assuring that the administration would take all necessary steps to prevent any case in Nigeria.

Gbajabiamila said the government remains committed to strengthening surveillance systems, response capacity and inter-agency coordination to safeguard public health.

“We have a health scare, which is Ebola, and we all know what happened the last time. The cases are getting worse, internationally and worldwide, and we don’t want to leave anything to chance.

“There were three, four areas we looked at. We looked at the issue of possibility, as of now, of restricting flights from countries of interest. We looked at the possibilities of isolating passengers who may exhibit symptoms of Ebola.

“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, and where some passengers slip through the cracks, then we must have ways of dealing with situations such as that,” he said.

The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, also said all entry points into the country would be placed under strict surveillance to forestall any potential outbreak.

He added that the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) would work closely with the NCDC to strengthen early detection mechanisms and ensure swift response in case of any health threat.