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The House of Representatives issued a stark warning on Tuesday regarding the severe financial crisis crippling the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC).
Lawmakers warned that the country’s frontline health defense system has been dangerously compromised, leaving Nigeria highly vulnerable to a potential Ebola outbreak and other fast-spreading epidemics.
The legislative intervention was prompted by a motion of national importance tabled by Representative Amobi Ogah, who represents Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency in Abia State.
Leading the debate, Ogah stressed that the escalating health crisis in Central Africa demands that Nigeria immediately strengthen its border controls and medical emergency framework. He pointed to the latest dire information from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dated May 15, 2026, which confirmed a new outbreak of the deadly Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus in Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Given regional travel patterns, Ogah noted that this outbreak poses an immediate and severe threat to continental health security, and directly endangers Nigeria. Although the NCDC had proactively placed the country on high alert on May 25, 2026, to prevent possible importation of the virus, the lawmaker openly questioned how the agency could keep its promise in the absence of funding.
“It is known that the NCDC received no operational funds in 2025, and no capital disbursement has been made to date compared to the allocation approved in 2026. Moreover, the disbursement of such additional funds is grossly epileptic and grossly inadequate, which is in direct violation of basic international standards and constitutes an abuse of the Appropriations Act. So how can the center’s preparedness for emergencies be guaranteed?” he asked.
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Ogah further warned that the dangerous combination of reduced federal allocations and shrinking international donor funding has fundamentally eroded Nigeria’s biosecurity defenses. This persistent lack of funding has left the NCDC barely able to manage basic operational needs, crippling laboratory diagnostics, local monitoring, and rapid containment efforts.
“It is troubling to note that, currently, persistent funding gaps have severely restricted core national functions, including outbreak response operations, laboratory services, surveillance systems, logistics coordination, and frontline emergency preparedness activities in Nigeria,” he said.
Detailing a grim internal crisis at the top health agency, the lawmaker cited numerous unpaid contractors, abandoned isolation and laboratory construction projects, failing biosecurity infrastructure and a severe shortage of testing equipment.
According to him, “Laboratory reagents, consumables and other materials essential for screening and diagnosis of outbreaks have almost completely run out.”
The current crisis stands in stark contrast to the crisis that occurred in 2014, when Nigeria won global praise for its excellence in public health by quickly containing an Ebola outbreak brought in by an infected tourist from Liberia. Public health authorities have repeatedly reminded the government that maintaining world-class response capabilities requires stable and uninterrupted funding for diagnostic networks and emergency infrastructure.
Reacting quickly to the adoption of the motion, the House directed the executive branch to immediately release all funds allocated to the NCDC so that the agency can pay off its debts and restore essential operations.
Additionally, lawmakers ordered port health officials to aggressively increase cross-border screening to detect potential infections at points of entry. To ensure accountability, the House Infectious Diseases Committee was tasked with tracking the expected use of the funds, while the Legislative Compliance Committee was instructed to ensure the resolution was fully implemented.
