The Senate’s plan to create a National Agency for Malaria Eradication was met with significant opposition on Thursday by important players in Nigeria’s health industry.
At a public hearing on the National Agency for Malaria Eradication (Establishment) Bill 2025 (SB.172), which was introduced by Senator Ned Nwoko (Delta North), the opposition was heard.
Imarha Reuben, Chief State Counsel in the Federal Ministry of Justice, spearheaded the opposition, stating that the establishment of a new agency would contradict the Oronsaye Report’s implementation, which strives to simplify government entities, and duplicate current mandates.
“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,” he stated.
Dr. Kolawole Maxwell, the chairman of the Nigerian Malaria Technical Working Group and another bill critic, suggested a change from eradication to elimination tactics with improved coordination within the current organizations.
“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.
Echoing similar sentiments, a representative of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Fraden Bitrus, acknowledged the need for stronger efforts against malaria but cautioned against creating a new agency.
However, not all voices at the hearing opposed the idea.
President of the Environmental Health Officers Association (FCT Chapter), Ismaila Dankogi, backed the bill, arguing that it would shift Nigeria’s approach to malaria from curative to preventive.
Executive Director of the Community Vision Initiative, Dr Chioma Amajoh, who is popularly called “Mama Malaria”, also strongly supported the proposal.
She argued that the agency would provide a much-needed structure for coordinated action against the disease.
“Clinical case management of malaria in Nigeria over the decades has failed to tame the scourge,” she said.
She passionately urged the committee to give the proposal a chance, describing it as a necessary springboard for progress.
Declaring the hearing open earlier, Senate President Godswill Akpabio emphasized the need for a new approach in tackling malaria in Nigeria.
“It is time to move from seasonal campaigns to institutionalized eradication, backed by law, science, and accountability,” Akpabio said.
In her closing remarks, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and lawmaker representing Rivers West, Senator Ipalibo Banigo, thanked all participants and assured them that the committee would objectively consider all submissions.
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