The Senate, on Wednesday, moved to stop a full-blown Ebola disaster in Nigeria, adopting sweeping resolutions for obligatory well being screening of all worldwide vacationers, quick emergency funding from the Service Wide Vote, and the pressing repeal of the 100-year-old Quarantine Act of 1926.
The resolutions adopted an pressing movement beneath Orders 41 and 51, sponsored by Senator Francis Faduyile, a professor of medication and specialist pathologist, who warned that Nigeria now faces a excessive danger of importation after the affirmation of its first Ebola case within the Federal Capital Territory.
Presenting the movement, Senator Faduyile advised the Senate that the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak within the Democratic Republic of Congo, declared in May 2026, has spiraled into the second-largest Ebola outbreak in historical past, with over 9,000 confirmed circumstances and 4,400 deaths recorded, and no accepted vaccine or particular therapy but for the pressure.
He stated the virus has already crossed into Uganda and, on October 6, 2026, into Kenya via a traveler from DR Congo, earlier than reaching Nigeria.
According to him, contact tracing from the Abuja index case has already recognized about 44 individuals for quarantine and statement, whereas the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has rated the nation’s importation danger as excessive.
The sponsor lamented that screening at Nigeria’s factors of entry was restricted on September 22, 2026, to vacationers from solely listed nations of concern—an inventory that didn’t embody Kenya on the time—leaving a crucial hole that allowed the contaminated traveller to enter unchecked.
He additional decried that many airports, seaports, and land borders lack Port Health officers, thermal scanners, and isolation amenities, whereas Port Health Services nonetheless function beneath the out of date Quarantine Act of 1926.
Nigeria, he added, is already battling Lassa fever, cholera, and diphtheria, and can’t afford the added burden of an Ebola epidemic.
Leading the talk, Senator Sadiq Suleiman Umar representing Kwara North thanked the sponsor for capturing Nigeria’s present vulnerability, recalling that the nation was celebrated globally for defeating Ebola in 2014.
He warned that Nigeria should not lose that hard-won achieve by permitting even a single case to unfold, stressing that the prayers required a coordinated multi-agency method, sufficient assets, and strict border management with “no excuses for porous borders.”
Senator Adamu Aliero of Kebbi Central described the movement as well timed and of pressing nationwide significance. He famous that the Minister of Health had already outlined measures being taken by the NCDC on worldwide media, however insisted extra have to be carried out given the practically 50 p.c fatality price. “With about 4,500 deaths out of 9,000 cases and no vaccine manufactured yet for this strain, we must do all possible to control this disease,” Aliero stated.
For Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno of Borno North, the authorized framework is the weakest hyperlink. Commending Faduyile as an knowledgeable pathologist, Monguno stated the Quarantine Act of 1926 is out of date and “out of consonance with existing objective and subjective realities.” He urged the National Assembly to repeal and re-enact a contemporary regulation—whether or not via a committee invoice, a personal member’s invoice by the sponsor, or an government invoice—to empower well being officers to work with fashionable know-how.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio, in his contribution, revealed a disturbing lapse on the airport.
He stated he acquired info that the traveller from Kenya entered Nigeria with no checks in any respect. “There was no temperature check or any form of screening, and the traveller himself was worried,” Akpabio stated, including that the case was probably found solely on the hospital, not on the airport.
He recalled the 2014 Liberian index case and the Lagos physician who died after first contact with the affected person. “With 44 contacts already traced in 24 hours, and each of those potentially in contact with at least three more people, we are looking at a dangerous chain reaction. This is a major wake-up call,” he warned.
Akpabio directed that the Senate Committee on Judiciary ought to instantly have interaction well being authorities and the chief to amend the 1926 Act with out ready for an government invoice.
Senator Ali Ndume of Borno South pushed for even more durable motion, arguing that the state of affairs ought to be declared an pressing emergency and that screening should not be restricted to travellers from listed nations.
He identified that the index case got here via Kenya regardless of earlier assumptions. “You don’t know where a person contracted Ebola. Screening must be mandatory for every traveller coming into this country at every airport, regardless of origin,” Ndume insisted.
After debate, the Senate unanimously mandated that well being screening be made obligatory for all arriving worldwide passengers at each worldwide airport, seaport, and designated land border. This contains well being declaration kinds, temperature checks, and symptom screening, alongside enhanced screening for anybody who visited or transited an affected space previously 21 days.
It additionally urged the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, and the Nigeria Immigration Service to completely workers and equip all entry factors with educated Port Health officers, thermal scanners, private protecting tools, and isolation rooms, in addition to making certain isolation and therapy centres are prepared in all 36 states and the FCT—was additionally adopted.
On authorized reform, the Senate urged the National Assembly itself, moderately than the Federal Government, to instantly exchange the Quarantine Act of 1926 with a contemporary public well being regulation in line with the International Health Regulations (2005), in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and different stakeholders.
Our correspondent reviews that the funding prayer generated probably the most debate. While the sponsor initially proposed sufficient funding within the 2027 price range, Ndume claimed the President had already accepted ₦10 billion for Ebola management and demanded its quick launch and accounting. Senator Ireti Kingibe of the FCT additionally urged that funds be used to acquire vaccines, particularly for Abuja the place the case was detected.
