NCDC Pays N100,000 Weekly to Ebola Contacts in Quarantine

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) will pay N100,000 weekly to each person placed in isolation or quarantine after an Ebola case was reported in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The agency said the emergency payment covers food, accommodation and family costs for contacts under monitoring.

NCDC Director-General Dr Jide Idris announced the decision at a press briefing on Sunday. He said contacts had complained about feeding, accommodation and family expenses during monitoring.

Why NCDC is paying

Idris said the financial support was not initially in the agency's emergency response budget. It became necessary to encourage compliance with public health measures.

"We are paying for their accommodation; we are paying for their feeding. Some of them are asking for a stipend to maintain their families," he said. "We are providing N100,000 per person per week just to maintain their comfort and feeding, because they were complaining."

He stressed that the arrangement is an emergency intervention subject to review. "This was not planned for, but it is an emergency. We will continue to review it as we go along," Idris said.

53 contacts under monitoring

Nigeria has recorded one confirmed Ebola case. The NCDC has identified 53 primary contacts for monitoring during the 21-day incubation period. They include healthcare workers, household members, domestic employees and personnel who collected samples from the patient.

Public health teams are assessing contacts by exposure level and monitoring them through the 21-day incubation period after their last possible exposure. One contact who reported feeling unwell later tested negative, Idris said.

The confirmed case involves a woman who travelled from Uganda to Nigeria and tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain. She developed symptoms on October 7, sought medical attention in Abuja on October 11 and received a positive test result on October 20. The World Health Organisation classified the infection as imported. Investigations are continuing to establish the likely source of exposure.

States told to prepare

The NCDC is strengthening infection prevention in hospitals, training healthcare workers and ensuring protective equipment and laboratory supplies are available. Idris urged states to strengthen emergency preparedness, saying support should not be limited to Abuja.

"This is not the responsibility of the FCT alone. What we have to do for the FCT, we have to do for any other state, just in case," he said.

He called for cooperation among health workers, government agencies and the public, citing Nigeria's containment of Ebola in 2014. He asked Nigerians to avoid rumours, rely on verified health information and cooperate with surveillance teams.

The Federal Government had raised concerns over the preparedness of 15 Nigerian states to respond to Ebola. It directed hospitals nationwide to establish isolation capacity and strengthen infection prevention measures after the imported case in the FCT.

The N100,000 payment is an emergency measure, not a permanent allowance. NCDC said it will review the support as contact tracing continues, so the fiscal cost will depend on the number of contacts placed under quarantine.