The House of Representatives has disclosed plans to transform the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) into a multi-disease national coordinating institution to be known as the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (NACATAM), as part of an ongoing effort to reduce duplication, improve efficiency and strengthen accountability in Nigeria’s response to infectious diseases.
Chairman of the House Committee on Infectious Diseases, Rt. Hon. Amobi Godwin Ogah, dropped the hint in Abuja at the commencement of an investigative hearing into the utilisation of over $1.8 billion and $2.8 billion in grants Nigeria reportedly received from the Global Fund and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) between 2021 and 2025.
The grants were intended to support the national response against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria (ATM), and to enhance resilient and sustainable health systems.
Ogah said the parliament is determined to establish what was received, how it was expended and whether the interventions translated into measurable improvement in the lives of Nigerians, who still bear one of the heaviest global burdens of HIV, TB and malaria.
He commended Speaker Tajudeen Abbas for renaming the former HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Committee to the broader House Committee on Infectious Diseases — a change he said reflects emerging public health realities.
Although donor funds underpin up to 90 per cent of Nigeria’s response spending, Ogah lamented that Nigerians are still being ravaged daily by preventable diseases, insisting it can no longer be business-as-usual.
He warned that grants will no longer be implemented without Nigerian oversight and parliamentary visibility.
“Any grant being given to us without us managing such a grant is unacceptable. If they would not give us such grants on our terms, then let them keep their grants,” Ogah said.
He further disclosed that the Committee will work with the EFCC and ICPC to trace every kobo from every grant, adding that principal recipients and implementing partners will now be required to submit implementation plans before funds are released.
Ogah stressed that the inquiry is not a witch-hunt, but a value-for-money exercise aimed at ensuring no Nigerian child dies before age five from preventable infectious diseases by 2030.
In other news, the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has urged the administration of Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo of Anambra State to sustain the momentum of good governance and leverage the renewed mandate to further advance the welfare and well-being of Anambra.
Recall that Soludo was declared re-elected as governor of Anambra state for a second term by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday.
Soludo, according to the INEC, won in all 21 local government areas of the state in the governorship election held on Saturday.
INEC’s Returning Officer, Prof Edoba Omoregie (SAN), who declared the results, stated that Soludo, who was the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), secured a total of 422,664 votes to beat other contestants.
