Stakeholders in the health sector on Thursday in Abuja disagreed with the Senate‘s move to establish the National Agency for Malaria Eradication.
The disagreement among the critical stakeholders came to the fore during the public hearing on the bill sponsored by Senator Ned Nwoko (Delta North) seeking the establishment of the agency.
The first to oppose establishing a fresh agency for the eradication of malaria in Nigeria was the chief state counsel in the Federal Ministry of Justice, Imarha Reuben, who argued that creating such an agency would result in duplication of already existing ones and run contrary to the implementation of Orosanye‘s report.
“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 Orosanye‘s report,” he said.
Also kicking against the proposed Agency, the Chairman of the Malaria Technical Working Group in Nigeria, Dr Kolawole Maxwell, said rather than establishing an eradication agency, the government at all levels in the country should make concerted efforts to eliminate Malaria completely.
“We recommend that the current eradication target should be changed to elimination.
“We also suggest that the malaria program be housed within a coordinated government structure to avoid fragmentation and facilitate coordination.
“If malaria is taken out as an agency, it leads to another fragmentation of the health sector,” he said.
Representative of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Fraden Bitrus, said concerted efforts to eradicate Malaria need to be strengthened, but this should not involve creating a new agency.
However, the President of the Environmental Health Officers Association, FCT Chapter, Ismaila Haruna Dankogi, supported the move to establish the Malaria Eradication Agency.
According to him, the proposed agency will help the country to change its approach to dealing with malaria from curative to preventive.
Also, the executive director of Community Vision Initiative, Dr Chioma Amajoh, strongly supported the move to establish the agency, which, according to her, will serve as a required springboard for coordinated action against Malaria.
Dr Amajoh, fondly called Mama Malaria, passionately appealed to the committee to consider the proposal, saying,“ Clinical Case management of Malaria in Nigeria over the decades has failed to tame the scourge.”
Earlier in his remarks at the commencement of the public hearing, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, said, „It is time to move from seasonal campaigns to institutionalised eradication, backed by law, science, and accountability.”
In her remarks, the chairman of the committee, Senator Ipalibo Banigo ( Rivers West ), thanked all the stakeholders for their input into the proposed legislation and assured them that submissions would be objectively considered.
