The House of Representatives has vowed that the Parliament will take decisive legislative actions to combat tuberculosis (TB), including pushing for increased funding, and enacting laws to protect patients’ rights in Nigeria.
The Chairman of the House Committee on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Leprosy, and Malaria Control, Hon. Amobi Godwin Ogah, made the promise during a Re-Launch of the Nigeria Parliamentary TB Caucus at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja.
In his welcome address, Ogah informed that lawmakers, under his Committee, are working tirelessly to strengthen Nigeria’s TB response and other devastating ailments.
He equally promised to mobilise parliamentarians to sign up for the caucus and champion policies that will enhance TB detection, treatment, and prevention.
He highlighted that nearly 70 per cent of Global Fund-supported countries are facing budget shortfalls for TB response, with 10 nations alone facing a $600 million deficit in 2025.
“Our role in providing legislative interventions and support to the response against TB in Nigeria is critical and cannot be overemphasized. We must take advantage of our position and the population under our control to fight the scourge of TB,” he said.
Nigeria, he warned, must increase domestic resource mobilisation, particularly since most African countries, including Nigeria have yet to meet the Abuja Declaration target of allocating 15 per cent of their national budgets to health.
To ensure that funding gaps do not cripple Nigeria’s fight against TB, Ogah urged the Parliament to intensify advocacy, and push for greater financial commitments from the government.
He also pledged his Committee’s readiness to work with the caucus for the purpose of making laws that will protect TB patients from stigma and discrimination while improving their access to healthcare.
While commending President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for committing over ₦700 billion to Nigeria’s health system, including TB interventions, he also applauded the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, for her ₦1 billion donation to TB eradication efforts across the country.
Reaffirming Nigeria’s commitment to the global goal of ending TB by 2030, Ogah urged his colleagues to step up their efforts, echoing the World TB Day 2025 theme: ‘Yes, We Can End TB – Commit, Invest, Deliver.’
In his address, the Speaker House of Representatives, Hon Tajudeen Abbas, informed of the House’s readiness to take a bold legislative action and increase funding to combat tuberculosis – a disease that continues to pose a major public health threat in the country.
Abbas further described TB as a longstanding but often overlooked health crisis, stressing that urgent interventions are needed to curb its devastating impact.
“Most of us started hearing about this scourge in our childhood, and after a while, it seemed forgotten, yet it remains one of the most deadly diseases affecting humanity today,” Tajudeen said.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Nigeria remains the seventh highest TB-burdened country globally and second in Africa, with 361,000 new cases recorded in 2023 — a 26 per cent increase from the previous year.
Worse still, nine per cent of these cases involved children, while 63,000 people living with HIV were co-infected with TB.
Despite past efforts, including the establishment of the National TB and Leprosy Control Programme in 1989 and alignment with WHO’s global TB elimination strategies, the disease continues to spread.
He further emphasised the need for stronger awareness campaigns, improved healthcare infrastructure, and legislative measures to bridge the treatment gap.
Abbas also reaffirmed the 10th House of Representatives’ commitment to prioritising health reforms, noting that the Parliament had already increased the national health budget in line with the Abuja Declaration, which recommends at least 15 per cent of the national budget be allocated to healthcare.
He said that the House also proposed amendments to the National Health Act, raising Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) funding from one per cent to two per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) to strengthen TB treatment and healthcare infrastructure.
