Critical stakeholders in the health sector in Abuja expressed divergent views on the move by the Senate to establish the National Agency for Malaria Eradication.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the disagreements among the stakeholders came to the fore during a public hearing on the bill seeking for the establishment of the agency, as sponsored by Sen. Ned Nwoko (APC-Delta).
NAN also reports that the public hearing was organised by the Senate Committee on Health (Secondary and Tertiary).
Chief State Counsel in the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr Imarha Reuben, while kicking against the bill, argued that creating such an agency would lead to duplication of already existing ones.
Reuben also said that it would 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 implementation of the Orosanye report,” he said.
The Chairman, Malaria Technical Working Group in Nigeria, Dr Kolawole Maxwell, also expressed his opposition to the proposed agency.
Maxwell said that rather than establishing an eradication agency, governments at all levels should come up with concerted efforts at ensuring total elimination of malaria.
“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,” he said.
On his part, Director Post-Marketing Surveillance at the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mr Fraden Bitrus, called for the strengthening of efforts toward eradicating the disease without involving creation of a new agency.
However, the President of the Environmental Health Officers Association, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Chapter, Ismaila Dankogi, supported the establishment of the agency.
According to him, the proposed agency will help the country to change its approach of dealing with malaria from curative to preventive.
Also, the Executive Director of Community Vision Initiative, Dr Chioma Amajoh, strongly supported the move for establishment of the agency.
Amajoh said that the agency would serve as a required springboard for coordinated action against malaria.
She appealed to the committee to allow the proposal to see the light of the day, arguing that clinical case management of malaria in Nigeria over decades had failed to tame the scourge.
In his remarks at the commencement of the public hearing, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, said it was time to move from seasonal campaigns to institutionalised eradication, backed by law, science and accountability.
Speaking earlier, Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Ipalibo Banigo (PDP- Rivers), said, “I assure you that this committee will consider all views objectively and transparently.
“And we remain committed to delivering legislation and oversight outcomes that prioritise the health, safety and wellbeing of all Nigerians”.(NAN)
