he Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) is committed to strengthening disease outbreak response period across the 8,000 square kilometers of the Territory.
To achieve this feat, the FCT Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (FCT-PHEOC) is participating in the Exercise Keep Pushing VI (EKP 6), a four-day National Public Health Emergency Functional Simulation Exercise.
The exercise, which was conducted in collaboration with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) took place between February 24th to 25th 2025 with each PHEOC responding to simulated outbreak situations.
The exercise is aimed at assessing Nigeria’s emergency response capabilities in managing a multi-location disease outbreak using a One Health.
Adressing the FCT team at the end of the exercise, the State Epidemiologist FCT, Dr. Lawan Lukman Ademola, said FCT-PHEOC and five other states—Abia, Borno, Kano, Ondo, and Kwara—took part in the exercise.
He added that the Keep Pushing Simulation Exercise (EKP 6) evaluates the communication, coordination, and operational readiness of national and subnational PHEOCs in responding to public health emergencies.
According to him, from 2018 five of such exercises have been held, each testing responses to different disease scenarios and involving different sets of states.
Ademola added that this year’s exercise focused on an influenza outbreak scenario, providing an opportunity to test Nigeria’s One-Health surveillance systems, rapid response mechanisms, and inter-agency collaboration.
He noted that the simulation began with a virtual briefing on the first day of the exercise where participants received guidelines for the exercise.
Abuja Digest reports that the exercise concluded with a debriefing session on the second day to evaluate strengths, identify gaps, and suggest improvements.
The session was supervised by Dr. Odianosen Ehakhamen from NCDC, who served as the SimEx Controller.
