‘Stop Waiting For Foreigners To Save Nigerians From Mosquitoes’ — Group Blasts Tinubu Govt Amid Malaria Crisis | Sahara Reporters

According to the group, the suspension of major global health aid by the United States in 2025 exposed Nigeria’s dependence on foreign funding for critical health interventions.

The #EndMalariaInNigeria campaign has accused the Nigerian government of treating malaria control as a foreign-funded programme rather than a national priority, urging authorities to stop relying on international donors to protect Nigerians from mosquito-borne diseases.

The group made the call in a statement issued on Thursday by its Convener, Francis Nwapa, to mark this year’s World Mosquito Day 2026.

The group said Nigeria’s heavy malaria burden should be a source of “national shame and national resolve,” noting that a disease that is preventable and treatable continues to claim thousands of lives because of failures in governance, healthcare financing and environmental management.

According to the group, the suspension of major global health aid by the United States in 2025 exposed Nigeria’s dependence on foreign funding for critical health interventions.

The group noted that the Nigerian government subsequently approved an additional $200 million for the health sector as an emergency measure, describing the development as evidence that malaria control had not been sufficiently prioritised through domestic funding.

“Malaria control in Nigeria has never truly been a Nigerian government priority. It has been a donor-funded programme that our government administers, not a domestically-owned national mission that our government leads and finances,” Nwapa stated.

#EndMalariaInNigeria argued that Nigeria has sufficient resources to tackle malaria but lacked the political will to invest adequately in healthcare, sanitation and environmental infrastructure.

The group cited Zambia and Sudan as examples of African countries that had significantly increased domestic funding for malaria commodities, claiming Zambia raised such funding by 222 percent in two years while Sudan increased malaria funding by 400 percent in one year.

It said Nigeria had no justification for continuously responding to malaria outbreaks and funding gaps as emergencies when the country could invest in long-term prevention.

The group also blamed poor environmental management for creating conditions favourable to mosquito breeding in Lagos and other Nigerian cities.

It identified blocked drainage channels, accumulated refuse, stagnant water and poorly maintained water infrastructure as factors contributing to the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.

“These are not acts of nature. They are the direct, foreseeable consequences of governance that has failed to treat environmental sanitation as public health infrastructure,” Nwapa said.

The group called on the federal government, state governments and local authorities to make drainage, waste management and dam maintenance part of their public health responsibilities.

It also demanded a health financing system capable of providing universal access to malaria diagnosis and treatment without dependence on foreign donors.

The group further urged the government to invest in free quality public education and retain Nigerian scientists, entomologists, public health researchers and environmental health professionals to strengthen domestic capacity to tackle malaria.

It warned that Nigeria must also intensify local research into mosquito populations and malaria transmission patterns, particularly amid growing concerns about insecticide resistance and the emergence of mosquito species capable of thriving in urban environments.

“We cannot outsource the answer to a Nigerian-specific problem,” the group said.

#EndMalariaInNigeria also demanded that mosquito control and pest management be recognised as properly funded components of the country’s health system rather than being left largely to individual households.

“Nigeria loses more people to malaria in a year than most conflicts lose to bullets, and yet we still budget for this disease as if it were someone else’s emergency to solve,” Nwapa said.

“We are done asking foreign donors to fund our way out of a crisis that our own governance failures created and sustained.”

The group noted that blocked drains, refuse dumps and health centres without essential medicines were products of policy decisions and should therefore be addressed through deliberate government action.

“This World Mosquito Day, our message to the government at every level is simple: internalise this fight, fund it like the national emergency it is, and stop treating the Nigerian people’s protection from a mosquito bite as a line item dependent on another country’s budget,” Nwapa stressed.

The group said it would continue to mobilise citizens, document failures and demand accountability until the elimination of mosquito-borne diseases becomes a sustained national priority.