By Hadiza Mohammed, Northern Operation
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, NCDC, says Nigeria needs an average of N104.4 billion annually to implement its National Action Plan for Health Security.
The amount is the yearly average of the N522 billion required to execute the five-year health security plan, NAPHS 2.0, covering 2025 to 2029.
The Director-General of NCDC, Dr. Jide Idris, disclosed this on Monday while clarifying the Federal Government’s N10 billion emergency intervention to the agency amid questions over funding during Nigeria’s Ebola response.
Idris said the N10 billion approved by President Bola Tinubu in June 2026 represents only about two per cent of the annual cost needed to implement NAPHS 2.0, stressing that it is grossly inadequate for the country’s health security needs.
He noted that while not all activities under the plan will be funded through NCDC, the estimate shows the scale of investment required to protect Nigerians from public health threats.
According to him, the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board recommends that countries spend between $1 and $2 per person annually to achieve acceptable epidemic preparedness.
With Nigeria’s population estimated at about 240 million, he said the country would need between $240 million and $480 million yearly.
Idris said sustained investment from the Federal Government, state governments and development partners is needed to close the funding gap.
He lamented that poor funding crippled the implementation of the first National Action Plan for Health Security, a situation that necessitated increased domestic and external funding under the new plan.
He described NAPHS 2.0 as a multisectoral, One Health and whole-of-government initiative involving relevant MDAs, development partners, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to prevent, detect and respond to public health threats.
The NCDC boss clarified that the N10 billion emergency fund was released directly to NCDC and not to the Presidential Task Force on Ebola, adding that it was meant to strengthen preparedness against multiple epidemic-prone diseases including Ebola, Lassa fever, cholera, meningitis, diphtheria, measles and monkeypox.
He warned that failure to invest sustainably in preparedness could expose the country to greater human, social and economic losses when outbreaks occur, and called for accountable financing of health security.
