The Presidential Task Force on Ebola Preparedness, Viral Disease Preparedness and Emerging Public Health Threats has assured Nigerians that the country has the capacity to contain the Ebola virus.

The chairman of the task force and Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, gave the assurance while speaking to journalists after the group’s emergency meeting at the State House on Wednesday.

Gbajabiamila said the task force had been working behind the scenes since its inauguration in June, adding that the preparations helped authorities to detect the index case reported on Tuesday.

“It’s very important to note this. Since the issue of Ebola came up in June, there have been about 44,000 flights in and out of Nigeria. So, it’s because of what the Ministry of Health, the task force and all the agencies have been doing. All hands have been on deck.

“The passenger with the disease showed no symptoms, which came four days after the woman got into Abuja, and it was the identification process and the protocols that were put in place that enabled the quick identification. That also speaks to the country’s capacity and ability to deal with this disease as best as we can,” he said, according to a statement by the presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga.

He assured Nigerians that the task force would strengthen existing protocols where necessary and ensure more rigorous enforcement.

“The Task Force is on top of it. NCDC is on top of it; everyone is on deck. We must build community trust and avoid panic, but it’s also important to state clearly that this is a collaborative effort between the government and the people.”

He appealed to Nigerians to comply with public health directives in the interest of everyone.

The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, also said Nigeria had competent health authorities, including private hospital operators and relevant agencies responsible for immigration, aviation, and internal affairs, as well as subnational authorities, with surveillance systems in place across the country.

He said the authorities were prepared to respond to the outbreak.

“We have been conducting contact tracing diligently and isolating those contacts of the index imported case in this country. We will continue to do that, and we want to reassure Nigerians that the federal government, alongside its technical partners, the World Health Organisation, the Africa Centre for Disease Control, and our own Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, have activated the incident management system across the various pillars.

“They are working day and night diligently, and our hospital capabilities are also activated, such that we can aim to contain this case, as has been the case in other countries, but we will not relent. Our population should respect public health directives.

“Most of our states have adequate response plans. We have the resources, and we’re mobilising those capabilities. And we’re also confident that if we continue on this path, we should be able to dent this outbreak.”

Pate urged Nigerians to avoid spreading misinformation while the authorities worked to contain the virus.

“The key also for the population is to avoid spreading misinformation or baseless rumours, which can cause unnecessary panic. The Task Force leadership has met. WHO and Africa CDC are working closely with the team.

“In addition to our exceptional public health physicians who had successfully tamed this virus in 2014 and had contributed to other countries, we are confident that if we continue in this direction, we will emerge out of this crisis in a much stronger place,” Pate said.

Other members of the task force who attended the meeting included the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Kemi Nandap; the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Bunmi Kuku; FAAN General Manager Adamu Adamu; the WHO representative, Pavel Ursu; and the Special Regional Representative to the Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Aliko Ahmed.

Also present were the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Administration and Operations and Secretary of the task force, Oyinade Nathan-Marsh; Public Health Executive Niniola Williams; the Mandate Secretary for Health and Environment in the Federal Capital Territory, Dolapo Fasawe; and the Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee at the State House Medical Centre, Victoria Ogala.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Olajumoke Oduwole; the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi; and the Director of Operations, Licensing and Training Standards at the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Capt. Donald Spiff, joined the meeting virtually.

On Tuesday, the Federal Government confirmed an Ebola case in the Federal Capital Territory. Pate said laboratory tests had confirmed the imported case of Ebola virus disease.

He said the patient was a woman who had recently travelled to Uganda and returned to Nigeria with symptoms on October 7. The symptoms reportedly worsened four days later, before tests confirmed the infection.

However, Ugandan authorities denied reports of an Ebola outbreak in the East African country.

Uganda’s Ministry of Health said the location where the patient was exposed to the virus remained under investigation, adding that travel through Uganda alone was insufficient to establish where the infection occurred.