The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has approved a weekly payment of ₦100,000 for each person identified as a contact of an Ebola patient to support their upkeep while under monitoring.
The Press Nigeria reports that the agency’s Director-General, Dr Jide Idris, announced the measure on Sunday, October 25, 2026, during a briefing on Nigeria’s response to the Ebola outbreak.
Idris said the decision followed complaints from people being monitored who expressed concerns about the financial challenges of staying away from their normal activities while complying with public health directives.
According to him, some contacts were worried about meeting their basic needs and providing for their families during the monitoring period.
He explained that the agency was providing accommodation and feeding support, alongside the weekly stipend, to ease the burden on affected individuals.
“We are paying for their accommodation; we are paying for their feeding. Some of them are asking for a stipend to maintain their families. We are providing ₦100,000 per person per week just to maintain their comfort and feeding, because they were complaining,” Idris said.
The NCDC chief acknowledged that the financial assistance was not part of the agency’s original plan but described it as an emergency measure necessitated by the circumstances.
“This was not planned for, but it is an emergency. We will continue to review it as we go along,” he added.
Idris also stressed that the support should not be limited to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), noting that similar assistance would be required in other states if contacts needed to be monitored there.
“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.
The intervention is intended to help people under monitoring meet their essential needs while cooperating with public health authorities during the outbreak response.
