…Five international gateways covered under a 20-year concession
…Pate defends financial support for quarantined contacts, says compliance vital to containing infection
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved a N45.8 billion biosecurity and disease surveillance project for five international airports to strengthen Nigeria’s defences against Ebola and other infectious diseases entering the country.
Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Ali Pate, disclosed this on Wednesday while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He said the project would provide early warning, detection and response systems at major entry points, along with a National Surveillance Operations Centre to coordinate real-time monitoring and responses to suspected outbreaks.
He said the facilities will be deployed at 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.
He said the council approved the project’s full business case and a 20-year public-private partnership concession to BioHealth Consortium.
He said under the arrangement, the consortium will design, finance, build, operate and maintain the facilities, while the federal government retains policy, institutional and regulatory oversight.
He said the assets will revert to the government at the end of the concession, in accordance with the agreement reviewed and endorsed by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission.
The minister described the initiative as an investment in public health and economic security, stressing that infectious disease outbreaks could threaten lives and disrupt economic activities.
“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,” he said.
He said more than 18 million passengers pass through Nigeria’s airports annually, making effective surveillance at entry points essential.
He said project will incorporate wastewater surveillance associated with aircraft, air and surface sampling equipment, cargo and baggage monitoring technologies and modern laboratories for rapid diagnosis.
He said its operations will integrate with those of 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 lessons from Nigeria’s recent response to an imported Ebola case helped inform the initiative.
He disclosed that surveillance and containment measures were in place before the case was confirmed in October. According to him, the patient recovered after treatment in Nigeria and continued to improve after returning to her home country.
He said continued Ebola transmission in the Democratic Republic of Congo underscored the need for vigilance against further importation and other infectious disease threats.
Defending financial support for people quarantined after contact with the patient, the minister said the intervention was designed to encourage compliance and prevent community transmission.
He explained that some contacts, including people who transported or interacted with the patient after she developed symptoms, relied on daily earnings to sustain their families.
“If you ask them to stay in quarantine, they have a livelihood and a family. They may find ways to evade it, and that will put everybody at risk,” he said.
He described the assistance as a targeted public-health measure, stressing that it was limited to the identified contacts.
“It is a global public good, and it is circumscribed. By no means will it be applicable if we have the unfortunate situation of community transmission,” he said.
The minister said the contacts were required to complete 21 days of quarantine and remained under monitoring by health authorities.
“We are not taking any chances,” he said.
He said the government was working to contain the existing threat while strengthening border surveillance, and expressed confidence that the airport project would improve early detection, coordination among agencies and preparedness for future public-health emergencies.
