Ebola: Reps ask FG to release outstanding health funds, mobilise public, private sectors
The House of Representatives on Wednesday called on the Federal Government to urgently release all outstanding appropriated funds to relevant health agencies to strengthen Nigeria’s preparedness... The post Ebola: Reps…
The House of Representatives' call follows reports of a confirmed Ebola case in Abuja, reviving concerns about Nigeria's capacity to detect and contain outbreaks of the viral haemorrhagic fever, which has a high fatality rate and spreads through contact with bodily fluids. Nigeria recorded its first and only prior Ebola outbreak in 2014, which was contained with support from the World Health Organisation and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), an episode often cited as a public health success story but one that also exposed gaps in emergency funding and response infrastructure that lawmakers say have persisted.
Across the coverage, Tribune, Vanguard and Punch agree on the core demand: that the Federal Government release outstanding appropriated funds to health agencies to shore up emergency preparedness, with Vanguard and Punch specifically linking the call to the newly confirmed Abuja case. The reports do not yet specify the exact amount of outstanding funds, which agencies are affected, or a timeline for disbursement, nor do they detail what "mobilising the public and private sectors" would involve in practice.