Stakeholders from across Nigeria and Africa have renewed their commitment to eliminating malaria by 2030, with plans underway for Nigeria to begin local production of insecticide-treated mosquito nets.

The pledge was made during a high-level meeting on malaria elimination in Abuja, themed “Harnessing Africa’s Central Role for the Big Push Against Malaria.”

The gathering brought together African health ministers, experts, and global partners under the continent-wide “Big Push” initiative, which emphasizes political leadership, sustainable financing, local innovation, community mobilization, integrated healthcare, and stronger data systems.

Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, disclosed that the world’s largest manufacturer of mosquito nets is establishing a plant in Nigeria, ending decades of total reliance on imports for one of the country’s most critical malaria prevention tools.

“For 20 years, more than 600 million nets have been distributed in Nigeria. This is textile, but it was not produced locally. That must change. With new investments, we are beginning to domesticate our response, retain economic value, and create jobs,” Pate said.

He added that a facility near Abuja now has the capacity to produce 600 million malaria test kits annually under agreements with European partners, describing such initiatives as crucial to reducing dependency on external actors and tailoring responses to Nigeria’s realities.

“For 70 to 78 years, Nigeria has had a malaria programme, long before independence, yet we still carry a third of the global malaria burden. Malaria is fundamentally an African problem — 90 per cent of the global burden is here.

Unless we own it and finance it ourselves, no one else will solve it for us,” Pate stressed.
National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) Coordinator, Dr. Nnenna Ogbulafor, said the local production of nets would not only support Nigeria’s elimination efforts but also galvanize political will and reduce costs.

“This is about galvanizing government and ensuring that all hands are on deck. The government will sit up in areas where it has to work, and you and I will also sit up where we have to,” she said.

Minister of State for Health, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, raised concerns about rising insecticide resistance among mosquitoes, which threatens the effectiveness of indoor spraying interventions.

“While progress has been made in the fight against malaria, our current trajectory is not enough to meet our goal of ending malaria on the continent by 2030,” Salako warned.

Regional Director for West Africa at Africa CDC, Dr. Kokou Alinon, commended Nigeria’s leadership role, noting that Africa CDC has integrated malaria into primary healthcare systems across member states and is advancing vaccine trials.

“Local manufacturing, like Nigeria’s plan to produce mosquito nets, is crucial. We cannot keep depending on other continents,” Alinon said.

The meeting was organized in collaboration with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM), the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA), and supported by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).