Bill To Establish Agency For Malaria Eradication Scales Second Reading At Senate

The Senate has passed for the second reading, a bill seeking to establish the National Agency for Malaria Eradication (NAME), an initiative aimed at tackling Nigeria’s overwhelming malaria burden.

Tur bill titled: “A Bill for an Act to Establish the National Agency for Malaria Eradication and for Related Matters, 2025 (SB. 172),” was sponsored by Senator Ned Nwoko (APC, Delta North) and presented during plenary on Thursday.

According to the World Health Organisation’s 2024 report, Nigeria accounts for over 184,000 out of 600,000 annual global malaria deaths, representing the highest in the world.

Senator Nwoko described this toll as a national emergency requiring immediate and coordinated legislative action.

“Malaria is not merely a public health issue; it is a structural crisis that impairs maternal health, drains economic productivity, and impedes national development,” he said.

He noted that the disease was responsible for approximately 11% of maternal deaths in Nigeria, contributing to miscarriages, infant deaths, stillbirths, and severe anaemia.

Beyond the health impact, Nwoko emphasised the economic toll, including the loss of millions of man-hours, reduced business productivity, and a growing burden on healthcare infrastructure.

The bill proposed a centralised and autonomous agency tasked with coordinating national malaria eradication efforts.

The agency would have the mandate to formulate and implement national policies on malaria eradication, coordinate inter-agency and sectoral responses with legal authority, mobilise and manage resources efficiently and transparently as well as support vaccine research and genetic innovations targeting malaria.

Nwoko faulted the current structure of malaria control in Nigeria as fragmented and ineffective, stating that the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) lacked operational capacity and that the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) has limited reach.

“A fragmented structure cannot confront a mutating threat. We need a unified, science-driven, and legislatively backed institution with the singular mandate to end malaria in Nigeria,” he declared.

Citing the global urgency and funding mobilised during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nwoko questioned the global inaction on malaria.

“If malaria were endemic to Europe or North America, we would not still be grappling with it a century later,” he said.

The bill received broad bipartisan support from lawmakers including Senators Victor Umeh (LP, Anambra Central), Ede Dafinone (APC, Delta Central), Babangida Oseni (APC, Jigawa North West), and Onyewuchi Francis (LP, Imo East), who all endorsed the proposed agency as a bold and overdue step toward malaria elimination.

Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin (APC, Kano North) subsequently referred the bill to the Senate Committee on Health for further legislative scrutiny.

The committee has four weeks period to report back to the upper legislative chamber.