Nigeria’s Hantavirus Escape May Be Luck, Not Preparedness — CODE Warns

Maryam Aminu

Nigeria may have escaped the emerging global Hantavirus scare for now, but Connected Development (CODE) has warned that the country’s fragile epidemic preparedness infrastructure leaves millions vulnerable should the virus breach its borders.

In a statement signed by Hyeladzira Mshelia, Acting Chief Executive of Connected Development, the civic organisation cautioned that the absence of confirmed Hantavirus cases in Nigeria should not be mistaken for evidence of a robust public health response system.

The warning follows the confirmation by the World Health Organization of eight Hantavirus infections, including three deaths, linked to passengers aboard the Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius. The Andes virus strain involved has shown limited human-to-human transmission, prompting countries across Europe, North America, and Asia to intensify surveillance and contact tracing efforts.

While the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that no Hantavirus cases have been detected in the country, CODE argued that Nigeria’s current “window of safety” may be more a product of fortune than functional preparedness systems.
The organisation pointed to long-standing weaknesses within Nigeria’s Port Health Services, including shortages of screening officers and inadequate quarantine facilities at international entry points. It noted that these deficiencies were officially documented during the COVID-19 pandemic and remain largely unresolved years later.

CODE also recalled that Nigeria conducted approximately 1.78 million COVID-19 tests by mid-2021, compared to South Africa’s 3.2 million despite having a smaller population, describing the disparity as evidence of persistent gaps in testing and contact-tracing capacity.

Through its COVID-19 Transparency and Accountability Project (CTAP), the organisation said it tracked more than ₦99 billion and millions of dollars in donations raised for pandemic management, but lamented that accountability mechanisms around the funds remained weak.

According to CODE, a National Bureau of Statistics survey conducted in July 2020 showed that only 12.5 per cent of Nigerians in the poorest income bracket received any form of pandemic-related assistance, while several civil society groups criticised COVID-19 fund management as opaque and lacking transparency.

The organisation expressed concern over the ongoing disbursement of ₦32.9 billion under the revised Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) 2.0 framework, particularly funds earmarked for epidemic preparedness through the NCDC gateway.
It stressed that despite governance reforms introduced in October 2025, public visibility into how the funds are spent remains limited.

CODE disclosed that findings from its Project Track BHCPF initiative, also known as #HealthShield, revealed that bureaucracy, poor stakeholder knowledge, and weak inter-agency coordination continue to delay state-level access to emergency preparedness financing.

The group warned that such institutional bottlenecks could prove deadly during a fast-moving outbreak where response speed is critical.
It therefore called on the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the NCDC, the Nigerian Ports Authority, the Ministry of Aviation, and other relevant agencies to urgently conduct and publish transparent audits of disease surveillance and quarantine infrastructure at all points of entry.

CODE further demanded that all epidemic preparedness disbursements under the BHCPF framework be made publicly traceable and tied to measurable frontline outcomes.

The organisation also urged stronger collaboration among the NCDC, immigration authorities, port health officials, and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, insisting that coordination mechanisms should become permanent structures rather than emergency reactions.

It added that frontline personnel at airports and seaports must be adequately equipped while public awareness campaigns on Hantavirus should begin immediately to curb misinformation and panic.
“Nigeria has a window,” the statement concluded. “The time to use it is now.”