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By Gloria Ikibah

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has expressed strong reservations about a proposed bill seeking to establish a National Institute for Public Health and Infectious Diseases, warning that the move could create institutional overlap and undermine the country’s disease control system.

The agency’s concerns were presented during a public hearing on the National Institute for Public Health and Infectious Diseases (Establishment) Bill, 2025 (HB 2629), organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Infectious Diseases at the National Assembly in Abuja on Thursday.

In its submission to lawmakers, the Director-General of NCDC, Dr. Jide Idris acknowledged the need to continually strengthen Nigeria’s health security architecture, including disease surveillance, epidemic preparedness and outbreak response. However, it maintained that the proposed institute will replicate responsibilities already assigned to the agency under existing legislation.

According to him, establishing another body with similar mandates risks creating administrative conflicts, duplicating public resources and blurring lines of authority during public health emergencies.

The NCDC boss argued that Nigeria already has a statutory institution responsible for coordinating infectious disease surveillance, prevention and emergency response, and that efforts should focus on strengthening existing structures rather than creating parallel agencies with potentially competing functions.

The development comes as lawmakers consider measures aimed at reinforcing the country’s capacity to prevent, detect and respond to emerging health threats. Supporters of the bill believe a dedicated public health institute could enhance research, coordination and preparedness for future disease outbreaks.

However, Idris insists that any reform intended to improve Nigeria’s public health system must avoid weakening existing institutions or creating uncertainty over leadership and accountability during health crises.

He urged lawmakers to carefully review the provisions of the bill to ensure that any new framework complements, rather than duplicates, the functions currently performed by the nation’s foremost disease control authority.

“The core responsibilities proposed for the new institute are substantially the same as those currently assigned to the NCDC,” Idris said, warning that the Bill raises serious concerns over duplication of mandates, institutional overlap, governance conflicts and fiscal sustainability.

He argued that public health emergencies require a single, clearly recognised national authority, stressing that creating another federal institution with overlapping responsibilities would generate uncertainty over leadership, accountability and operational command during disease outbreaks.

The NCDC further noted that the Bill designates the proposed institute as Nigeria’s National Focal Point for the International Health Regulations (IHR) and empowers it to coordinate national responses to infectious disease outbreaks functions that are already assigned to the NCDC under the NCDC Act and recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to the agency, such overlapping mandates could create confusion among state governments, development partners and international organisations that currently work through the NCDC as Nigeria’s official public health authority.

Drawing lessons from Nigeria’s successful response to Ebola, COVID-19, Lassa fever, cholera, meningitis, diphtheria, Mpox and other disease outbreaks, Idris maintained that the country’s public health system has evolved around a unified command structure, warning that introducing parallel institutions could fragment emergency response efforts when coordination is most critical.

The Director-General also questioned the financial implications of establishing a new federal institution with headquarters, zonal offices, state structures, governing councils and extensive staffing requirements at a time of competing national priorities.

He expressed concern over proposals to allocate part of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund to the proposed institute, warning that such a move would further stretch an already limited funding mechanism and reduce resources available for existing health priorities.

Idris noted that the Federal Government has invested significantly over the years in building the NCDC’s laboratory network, surveillance systems, emergency operations centres, genomic sequencing capacity, workforce development programmes and outbreak response infrastructure.

According to him, creating another institution with similar responsibilities would duplicate existing investments and undermine the Federal Government’s ongoing policy of streamlining public institutions.

He added that international best practice supports the existence of a single national public health institute responsible for disease surveillance, preparedness and emergency response, noting that Nigeria adopted the same model through the establishment of the NCDC.

The agency therefore urged the National Assembly to strengthen existing public health structures instead of creating parallel institutions.

While reiterating its support for upgrading the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Training Centre, Saye, Zaria, into a tertiary institution dedicated to teaching, clinical services and research, the NCDC urged lawmakers to review provisions of the Bill that establish what it described as a parallel public health command structure.

The Director-General disclosed that the agency had submitted a detailed clause-by-clause analysis identifying areas of conflict between the proposed legislation and the NCDC Act, 2018, noting that several provisions of the Bill appeared to have been reproduced almost verbatim from the existing law.

He concluded that the issue before lawmakers was not whether Nigeria should strengthen its public health capacity, but whether that objective would be better achieved by strengthening the National Public Health Institute already established by law or by creating another institution with substantially overlapping responsibilities.

Earlier, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, described the proposed institute as a strategic investment in Nigeria’s health security and preparedness against future disease outbreaks.

Represented by Hon. Bashir Zubair, the Speaker said Nigeria’s experiences with Ebola, COVID-19, Lassa fever and other infectious disease outbreaks exposed significant vulnerabilities within the country’s health system and demonstrated the urgent need for stronger institutions capable of anticipating, preventing and responding effectively to emerging public health threats.

He stressed that a country of Nigeria’s population and strategic importance could no longer afford a reactive approach to disease outbreaks but must invest in scientific innovation, research, surveillance and sustainable preparedness.

According to Abbas, the proposed institute would provide a comprehensive framework for integrating disease prevention, surveillance, diagnosis, research, control and management within a coordinated national system while empowering Nigerian scientists to develop home-grown solutions to infectious diseases.

He maintained that the objective of the legislation was not simply to establish another government institution but to build a functional, agile and world-class institute capable of delivering measurable health outcomes for Nigerians and contributing to global public health.

In his opening remarks, Chairman of the House Committee on Infectious Diseases, Rep. Amobi Godwin Ogah, represented by Hon. Mark Esset, said the public hearing was organised to gather views and recommendations from stakeholders on two key pieces of legislation currently before the Committee — the National Institute for Public Health and Infectious Diseases (Establishment) Bill and the Tuberculosis Anti-Discrimination Bill.

Ogah explained that the proposal to establish a national public health institute was informed by findings from an oversight visit by members of the Committee to the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Training Centre in Saye, Zaria, in October 2025. During the visit, lawmakers observed what he described as vast but underutilised human and infrastructural resources within the facility.

According to him, the discovery prompted the Committee to recommend the transformation of the centre into a national public health institute. It also influenced the decision to expand the Committee’s scope of responsibilities, leading to its renaming from the House Committee on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Control to the House Committee on Infectious Diseases.

The lawmaker disclosed that the Presidency had already granted approval for the upgrade of the Zaria-based training centre into a public health institute, expressing confidence that the proposed legislation would enhance Nigeria’s ability to prevent, detect, diagnose, treat and manage infectious diseases more effectively.

Speaking on the Tuberculosis Anti-Discrimination Bill, Ogah said the proposed law is designed to safeguard the rights and dignity of people living with or affected by tuberculosis. He noted that the legislation seeks to tackle stigma and discrimination, while promoting early testing, prompt diagnosis and access to treatment as part of broader efforts to reduce the burden of the disease across the country.

The hearing also featured submissions from representatives of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, development partners, civil society groups, professional associations and public health institutions, as lawmakers continue deliberations on the two proposed laws.