Abuja, 17th September, 2013 - The Memorandum of Understanding for the one million-dollar ($1m) African Development Bank (AfDB) grant towards cushioning the effect of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Nigeria has been signed during a well-attended event at the Federal Ministry of Finance Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, 16th September, 2014.

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala mentioned at the signing ceremony that “In this moment of partnership, the one million dollar grant would be put to immediate use to support on-going efforts to contain the spread of EVD in the country”. She also disclosed that the Nigerian government had assisted Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia with $3.5 million dollars which will “go a long way in containing the risk of contracting the disease from neighboring countries”. 

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, also the coordinating Minister of the Economy, told Media personnel at the event that the Federal Government of Nigeria acknowledged the massive efforts provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) which according to her is “widely acclaimed by all stakeholders, including Mr. President, His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan”. She applauded WHO for the best practices documented in the Nigerian experience and thanked the Organization for supporting the government of Nigeria to take measures, germane to the effective prevention of the spread of the disease which according to the Minister “will strengthen the mechanisms for outbreak and emergency response”.

As a prelude to the signing of the MOU, the Country Director of the AfDB in Nigeria, Dr. Ousmane Dore, similarly recalled “the swiftness with which WHO deployed its expertise to provide technical support in order to contain the spread of the virus and have continued to provide assistance especially in surveillance activities” and further elaborated that the grant is part of the $60 million package geared towards reinforcing the health systems in Africa and consolidating on the gains from the Ebola collegiate-type response in Nigeria  to deal with future outbreaks.

In his contribution, the WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Rui Gama Vaz, expressed his gratitude to the Federal Government for the timely and consistent leadership to contain the epidemic and the AfDB for the gesture. He reiterated WHO’s continued technical support and provision of key interventions to implement the EVD Response plan.

However, he observed that there are residual challenges with inadequate logistics for contact tracing, screening at the Point of Entry as well as psychosocial problems faced by Ebola survivors who suffer stigmatization by the society, especially at work place.

The Minister, WR and ADB Country Director appended their signatures on three copies of the Letter of Agreement to seal the deal.