The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has approved a weekly payment of N100,000 per person to support individuals placed in isolation or quarantine as part of efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Director-General of the NCDC, Dr Jide Idris, disclosed this during a press briefing on Sunday, explaining that the intervention followed complaints from some contacts about the financial burden of feeding, accommodation and providing for their families while under public health monitoring.
Idris said the financial assistance was introduced to ease the burden on affected individuals and encourage compliance with the monitoring arrangements.
According to him, the agency is covering accommodation and feeding costs, alongside providing additional financial support to those who need to cater for their families.
“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.
He added that each person would receive N100,000 weekly to cater to their basic needs during the period.
“We are providing N100,000 per person per week just to maintain their comfort and feeding, because they were complaining,” Idris stated.
The NCDC chief explained that the payment was not part of the agency’s initial response plan but became necessary due to the emergency nature of the outbreak.
He said the arrangement would be reviewed as the response progressed.
“This was not planned for, but it is an emergency. We will continue to review it as we go along,” he said.
Idris also called on state governments to prepare for similar situations, stressing that the responsibility of supporting individuals under quarantine should not rest solely on the FCT authorities.
“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 urged state governments to make adequate financial and logistical provisions to support contact tracing, isolation and other public health response activities within their jurisdictions.
The intervention comes as health authorities intensify efforts to prevent further transmission of Ebola following the confirmation of an imported case in Abuja on October 20.
