New disease checks at five airports: what the N45bn plan means for travellers

The Federal Executive Council has approved a N45.08bn system to detect infectious diseases at Nigeria's five main international airports, run under a 20-year deal with a private consortium. It includes testing waste water from aircraft, sampling air and surfaces, and checking cargo and baggage. Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate said there is currently no Ebola case in Nigeria.

Pate announced the approval after the FEC meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday 28 October, Punch, BusinessDay and The Nation reported. The system will cover Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano, Port Harcourt International Airport and Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu. He said the airports were chosen for passenger numbers, risk and geographical spread, and that more than 18 million passengers pass through Nigeria's airports each year.

The project will be built and run by the BioHealth Consortium under a public-private partnership in which the private partner designs, finances, builds and operates the system for 20 years before the assets pass to the federal government, Punch and Channels reported. Pate said it had been two years in preparation. Besides sampling waste water, air, surfaces, cargo and baggage, it will include portable laboratories at entry points and a national operations centre linking the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Port Health Services, Customs, Immigration and NAFDAC. “This is not Ebola. It is all pathogens of huge public health threats,” he said, according to The Nation.

The approval follows Nigeria's first confirmed Ebola case in more than a decade, detected on 19 and 20 October in a foreign traveller. Pate said the patient recovered and returned home after treatment, and that there was no positive Ebola case in the country at the time of the briefing. Contacts are being quarantined for 21 days, the maximum incubation period.

Asked about the government's decision to pay each quarantined contact N100,000 a week, Pate said it was meant to stop people leaving isolation to earn a living, Punch reported. “If they evade quarantine, they go to market. They can transmit it to innocent people out there,” he said. He added that the payments would not apply if the disease ever spread in the community. Some Nigerians online welcomed the focus on early detection, while others said hospitals and routine care need investment more urgently.

Pidgin: Federal Government don approve N45.08 billion project to check for dangerous diseases for five big airports: Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu. Dem go test water from plane toilet, air, cargo and luggage. Health Minister Pate talk say no Ebola case dey Nigeria now.

How this affects you: Nothing changes for passengers yet: the system still has to be built, and no start date was given. Once it is running, most of the testing happens behind the scenes, on aircraft waste water, air, surfaces, cargo and baggage, though you may see more health checks at the five airports. If you feel unwell after travelling, especially with fever, contact a health worker or the NCDC helpline early.