On 20 October, Nigeria confirmed its first Ebola case in about a decade, a woman in Abuja infected with the Bundibugyo strain. Four months earlier, on 9 June, President Bola Tinubu had set up a Presidential Task Force on Ebola Preparedness and ordered ₦10 billion, about $7.3 million, released for emergency preparedness. The case has raised a simple question that official statements haven’t answered. Where is the money, and what has it paid for?
Who gave the money?
The ₦10 billion is federal government money, ordered by the President. The presidency’s statement said it was meant to strengthen the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and support national public health emergency work.
Beyond that, little is public. None of the reports I found name the budget line or account it came from, who holds it, or whether it has left the treasury. The task force is chaired by Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila and includes ministries, agencies and state representatives, but the presidency’s statement didn’t say who controls the spending. Weekend Trust reported that its requests to the task force for an update went unanswered. I found no reports of donor money in this fund. The international pledges for Ebola, such as a $518 million WHO plan, are for the response in Congo.
A separate funding stream exists. On 20 June, Health Minister Muhammad Pate approved releasing 50% of each state’s outbreak response allocation, ₦21.2 million per state, through the NCDC’s health fund channel. States must account for it within six months. Reports stress that this is a different pot from the ₦10 billion.
Why the question matters
In early June, Hon. Amobi Ogah told the House of Representatives that the NCDC received no operational funding in 2025 and no capital releases against its 2026 budget. He also said donor support had dropped and that vendors had gone unpaid for over a year. Those were a lawmaker’s claims, not verified figures, and the House asked the executive to release approved funds.
Who says what now
- On 21 October, opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar demanded the actual amount disbursed, the payment dates, the contracts and recipients. “A press statement cannot replace an audit,” he said.
- On 23 October, the APC Presidential Campaign Council’s spokesperson, Dele Alake, said the ₦10 billion remains unspent and that agencies have used other resources. That is the APC’s claim, and no independent verification has been published.
- Pate said at a briefing on 22 October that the President had released additional resources to the NCDC. The reported briefing didn’t mention the ₦10 billion.
If the ₦10 billion is untouched, it can’t explain the early response. If it has been spent, no one has shown on what.
The October case
The WHO’s timeline says the woman fell ill on 7 October, went to a private Abuja hospital on 11 October and was confirmed on 20 October, nine days later. Reuters says she was tested on 19 October. She arrived from Uganda, which says she only transited and had travelled to eastern Congo. Her arrival date is reported as 3 or 5 October. Reuters reports officials don’t believe she had symptoms on the flight.
Forty-four contacts, mainly health workers, are being monitored. Pate says the case was diagnosed within 24 hours of authorities being informed, that there is no evidence of community transmission, and that the patient is recovering. The NCDC says it had difficulty tracing fellow passengers because the name on its case form didn’t match the flight manifest. Weekend Trust found several travellers said their temperatures weren’t checked at Abuja, and FAAN did not comment.
The outbreak by the numbers
As of 20 October, the WHO counts 9,704 confirmed cases and 4,687 deaths in Congo, a fatality rate of about 48%. That includes 976 new cases and 482 deaths since 8 October. Kenya has 9 cases and 1 death. Nigeria has 1 case.
What Nigeria did in 2014
In 2014, Nigeria recorded 20 cases and 8 deaths. Health workers identified 894 contacts and made about 18,500 face-to-face visits. The last case came on 31 August.
What a clear answer would show?
An accounting wouldn’t expose any patient. It would say how much has been released and when, which agency holds it, what it paid for, and who audits it. Emeka Oguanuo of Nigeria Health Watch urged in June that the money go to the weakest links and be tied to deliverables the public can track.
What to do?
The NCDC asks people to stay calm, use official information, and report suspected cases early on 6232.
Sources: Presidency, 9 June, WHO Africa, WHO outbreak report, AP via PBS, Reuters via Polity, ThisDay on the government response, FIJ, Parrot Nigeria on the fund, allAfrica on the House motion, Legit.ng on Atiku, PrimeBusiness Africa, Ecofin, US CDC.
