The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has called for a shift from crisis-driven private sector donations to structured, long-term co-investment.
This followed the release of the Outcome Report of the NCDC–Private Sector Engagement Round table on Health Security.
The Director-General of NCDC, Dr Jide Idris, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Abuja on Monday.
Idris said that long-term co-investment would help strengthen Nigeria’s health security and protect the country’s economic stability.
He noted that Nigeria’s recurrent outbreaks of infectious diseases such as Lassa fever, cholera, diphtheria, meningitis, yellow fever and mpox had exposed deep structural vulnerabilities beyond the health sector, as the outbreaks directly affected national productivity, business continuity and investor confidence.
According to him, health security is no longer a public sector issue alone; it is an economic and investment imperative.
”Every outbreak reduces workforce productivity, disrupts supply chains, increases employer healthcare costs and weakens economic resilience.”
He added that health security was not a social good alone, but an economic necessity.
The NCDC director general also noted that Nigeria’s current preparedness architecture could not be sustainably financed or delivered by government and development partners alone.
He said this was especially in the context of shrinking donor funding and increasing disease threats driven by urbanisation, climate shocks and regional mobility.
According to him, the private sector, which contributes nearly 90 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, must evolve from an ad-hoc donor during emergencies to a strategic co-architect of national resilience.
”The private sector has demonstrated its capacity during crises, most notably, through the Coalition against COVID-19 (CACOVID), which mobilised unprecedented resources at a critical time.
”However, emergency generosity, while impactful, is not a substitute for institutionalised preparedness. Nigeria now requires predictable, multi-year co-investment anchored in governance, accountability and national priorities.”
Idris explained that the private sector engagement round table marked a deliberate shift from episodic, crisis-driven collaboration to a structured partnership model.
He said that it aligned with the National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) 2.0 (2024–2028) and the Antimicrobial Resistance National Action Plan (AMR NAP) 2.0.
He said that the outcome report captured practical lessons from CACOVID, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and private sector partnership framework.
”It also captures global best practices such as the U.S. CDC Foundation model, all of which demonstrate the value of institutionalised public-private collaboration.
”Preparedness is cheaper than response, and far cheaper than disruption. When health security fails, businesses bear the cost through absenteeism, supply chain disruptions, rising insurance premiums and declining consumer confidence,” he said.
The NCDC boss added that the report highlighted Nigeria as “investment-ready,” with fully costed national plans, clearly defined priority gaps and an established institutional anchor in the NCDC.
He identified priority opportunity areas for private sector co-investment to include digital disease surveillance and data systems, laboratory and genomic capacity expansion.
Other areas he said were emergency preparedness and response infrastructure, logistics and supply chain systems, risk communication, and workforce development.
”Our surveillance systems remain fragmented, laboratory and genomics capacity is limited relative to our population, and sub-national preparedness is uneven.
”These gaps translate into delayed responses, higher outbreak costs and avoidable economic disruption. Addressing them requires blended public-private co-investment, ‘’ he said.
He said that as part of the next steps, the NCDC would advance a Private Sector Call to Action and initiate consultations toward the establishment of an institutionalised NCDC Private Sector Health Security Advisory Council.
According to him, the proposed council will provide a structured platform for private sector leaders to advice, co-create and co-invest alongside public sector governance structures.
”This will ensure transparency, accountability and measurable impact. The goal is to move from goodwill to governance and from intent to implementation.
”We are embedding private sector engagement into national planning, budgeting and accountability systems to ensure continuity beyond political and funding cycles.”
Idris emphasised that investing in health security should not be viewed as corporate social responsibility, but as a strategic investment that protected markets, strengthened workforce resilience and supported long-term profitability.
He cited global estimates by the World Health Organisation indicating that Africa could lose up to 22.4 billion dollars over the next decade if surveillance gaps and vaccine-preventable diseases were not addressed.
He said that poor health outcomes already cost the continent trillions of dollars annually in lost productivity.
”For Nigerian businesses, sustained investment in national health security is about risk reduction, ESG performance and long-term market stability,” he said.
He revealed that further details on the nomination process and expressions of interest for the proposed Private Sector Health Security Advisory Council would be communicated in the coming days.
”Nigeria’s health security is a shared national responsibility. With structured partnerships, transparent governance and sustained co-investment, we can build a resilient health security system that protects lives, livelihoods and the stability of the Nigerian economy,” Idris said.
