Key stakeholders in Nigeria’s health sector have rejected the proposal of the Senate to establish a National Agency for Malaria Eradication.
The opposition was voiced during a public hearing on the National Agency for Malaria Eradication (Establishment) Bill 2025 (SB.172), sponsored by Senator Ned Nwoko (Delta North), on Thursday.
The Chief State Counsel in the Federal Ministry of justice, Imarha Reuben, led the opposition warning that creating a new agency would duplicate existing mandates and violate the implementation of the Oronsaye Report, which aims to streamline government agencies.
According to him, “The Federal Ministry of Justice is against the National Agency for Malaria Eradication (Establishment) Bill 2025 SB 172 to avoid duplication of functions of existing similar agencies in line with the implementation of Oronsaye’s report.”
Read Also: Tinubu to Sign 4 Tax Reform Bills, Says Nigeria Open For Business
The Chairman of the Malaria Technical Working Group in Nigeria, Dr Kolawole Maxwell, who also criticized the bill suggested that instead of eradication, elimination strategies should be considered.
He said; “We recommend that the current eradication target should be changed to elimination. We are also suggesting that the malaria programme should be housed within a coordinated government structure to avoid fragmentation and for easy coordination.
“If malaria is taken out as an agency, it leads to another fragmentation of the health sector.”
Also, Fraden Bitrus who represented the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control acknowledged that it is necessary to heighten efforts to fight against malaria.
However, he cautioned that creating a new agency was not the best way to tackle the issue.
Meanwhile, the president of the Environmental Health Officers Association (FCT Chapter), Ismaila Dankogi, supported the bill arguing that it would shift Nigeria’s approach to malaria from curative to preventive.
Also, the Executive Director of the Community Vision Initiative, Dr Chioma Amajoh, AKA “Mama Malaria” also declared support for the bill.
According to her, Nigeria’s clinical case management of malaria over the decades has failed to tame the scourge therefore, she urged the committee to give the proposal a chance.
Earlier at the meeting, Senate President Godswill Akpabio declared the meeting open while stressing the need for a new approach in tackling malaria in Nigeria.
He stated that it is time to move from seasonal campaigns to institutionalized eradication, backed by law, science, and accountability.
At the end, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and lawmaker representing Rivers West, Senator Ipalibo Banigo, gave a closing remark thanking all who participated while assuring them of an objective consideration of all their submissions as regards the bill.
