TheCable

The house of representatives committee on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, has vowed to ensure that producers of fake malaria drugs have “no hiding place” in the country.

Speaking during an inaugural meeting on Thursday, Amobi Ogah, chairman of the committee, said there is a need to subsidise malaria drugs for Nigerians.

“I have had interface and interactive meetings with key stakeholders within our purview and I must say to you all, there is work to be done,” he said.

The lawmaker said the committee’s goal is to adopt a “holistic approach” to fighting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in the country.

“Nigerians are affected by malaria yet access to drugs is not readily available, while the ones available are very exorbitant,” he said.

“My vision is to see a Nigeria where malaria drugs will be given to our people free or subsidised.

“With the alarming rate of malaria infections in our country, declaring an emergency on malaria will not be out of place. 

“We will also address the proliferation of fake and sub-standard malaria drugs in our country to identify the sources and impose penalties on them.

“It is our duty to protect our people since we are their representatives. Therefore, producers and distributors of fake and sub-standard malaria drugs will have no hiding place under our watch.”

Ogah said the committee welcomes partnerships to “enhance and reinvigorate” the fight against these diseases.

He said malaria wreaks havoc on Nigerians hence all efforts are needed to tackle the menace.

“To achieve all our objectives, we are ready to partner and collaborate with relevant MDAs, donor agencies and NGOs,” he added.

“We will critically look into the operations and processes of the global fund in relation to their intervention mechanism in the fight against HIV/AIDS. I assure you that we are ready to move mountains to ensure we succeed.”

PLANNING PANEL: CITY DEVELOPMENT MUST BE ACCORDING TO PLAN

Meanwhile, the house committee on urban and regional planning says adequate planning of cities will address insecurity.

Awaji-Inombek Abiante, chairman of the committee, spoke at the panel’s inaugural meeting on Thursday.

“If our cities are properly developed, well planned, issues of disasters, issues of emergencies would be reduced,” he said.

“Issues of identifications would be improved because persons can be tracked to the very last location that they are.

“But what we find, what we have are cities lacking the very basic, relative planning for development.”

The lawmaker said the development of cities must be done according to plan as doing otherwise poses a danger to the society.