Where is Nigeria's ₦10bn Ebola fund? NCDC explains that the money will be used to fight other viruses and diseases

• The Federal Government approved ₦10 billion for Ebola preparedness in June, more than four months before Nigeria confirmed its first case.

• NCDC Director-General Jide Idris says the fund also covers Lassa fever and other endemic diseases, alongside outbreak surveillance and emergency response.

• The government has outlined what the money is intended to finance, but has not disclosed how much has been released or spent.

The ₦10 billion Ebola fund was approved in June, more than four months before Nigeria’s first Ebola case, and is meant for Lassa fever and other endemic diseases as well as Ebola, the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Dr Jide Idris, has said.

Idris spoke on Monday, October 26, 2026, on Channels Television’s Politics Today, amid questions over how the money is being used.

The fund was not created after Ebola reached Nigeria. President Bola Tinubu approved it on June 9, 2026, and set up a Presidential Task Force on Ebola Virus Disease Preparedness and Emerging Public Health Threats after a stakeholder meeting reviewed Nigeria’s readiness against the possible importation of Ebola, according to a State House statement.

The NCDC confirmed the country’s first imported case on October 20. The statement described the fund as being for Ebola and other emerging public health threats.

Idris said the money was requested not only for Ebola but to address control of other endemic diseases, and that the request predated the confirmed case. He said it was initially meant to strengthen the response to diseases such as Lassa fever.

On what it will be used for now, Idris said Nigeria has no active positive Ebola case after the index patient was medically evacuated to Switzerland, but that the country is not yet out of the woods. The NCDC is still tracking 54 contacts, and the government has to provide feeding, accommodation and other support while they are monitored.

He said the fund would pay for personal protective equipment, laboratory reagents and consumables, surveillance and contact-tracing teams, transport, fuel and other operational needs under the eight pillars of outbreak control. It would also pay to repair damaged treatment and isolation centres, including the one in Abuja.

Lassa fever season is approaching. The NCDC has said cases typically rise between November and April and has urged states to fund preparedness. Idris said many Ebola surveillance measures are the same as those for Lassa fever.

He said the fund would pay for personal protective equipment, laboratory reagents and consumables, surveillance and contact-tracing teams, transportation, fuel and other operational needs under the eight pillars of outbreak control. He added that part of the money would be used to repair damaged treatment and isolation centres across the country, including the one in Abuja.

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The fund has become a political talking point. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar criticised the claim by the APC presidential campaign council that the money remained untouched and demanded that the government publish a full account. 

The council's statement, signed by its spokesperson, Dele Alake, said the NCDC, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and other agencies were using other available resources.

Idris rejected claims that the government was using the outbreak for political purposes ahead of the 2027 elections, saying health officials would not use disease as a political weapon.

The reports reviewed did not say how much of the ₦10 billion has been released or spent.