The legislation, titled “A Bill for an Act to Establish the National Agency for Malaria Elimination and for Related Matters, 2025 (SB.172),” scaled third reading after the Senate considered and adopted the report of the Senate Committee on Health (Secondary and Tertiary).
Senator Ned Nwoko, who represents Delta North, sponsored the bill.
Presenting the committee’s report, Senator Ipalibo Banigo, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health (Secondary and Tertiary), explained that the proposed agency would serve as the central coordinating body for all national efforts aimed at the prevention, control, and eventual elimination of malaria in Nigeria.
Banigo noted that stakeholder consultations on the bill received widespread support from health experts, government agencies, civil society organisations, and development partners. Participants at the consultations included representatives from the Federal Ministry of Health, Federal Ministry of Justice, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), Environmental Health Council of Nigeria, and the Nigeria End Malaria Council.
According to the committee’s report, the new agency is expected to shift Nigeria’s malaria response from a focus on treatment to a more proactive approach centred on prevention and elimination. It will establish zonal and state offices and implement a strategic plan grounded in law, science, and accountability.
Stakeholders emphasised the need for a specialised institution dedicated specifically to malaria elimination, rather than the current approach of managing recurring outbreaks. Lawmakers also adopted the term “elimination” instead of “eradication,” noting that the former is the internationally accepted terminology for country-level interventions.
The bill now awaits concurrence from the House of Representatives before it can be transmitted to the President for assent.
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