The acting CEO of the National Institute of Public Health and Infectious Diseases (NIPHID), Dalhatu Aminu, says the proposed establishment bill will strengthen, rather than duplicate, Nigeria’s public health security system.

Mr Aminu stated this on Tuesday in Zaria on the sidelines of a public hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Infectious Diseases.

The public hearing was held to consider the National Institute of Public Health and Infectious Diseases (Establishment) Bill.

He explained that the bill seeks to transform the former National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Training Centre in Zaria into a specialist tertiary institution for infectious diseases, public health training, research, and advanced clinical services.

According to him, the institute will complement existing public health institutions by providing specialist healthcare, conducting cutting-edge research, training highly skilled professionals and strengthening national preparedness and response to infectious disease outbreaks across the country.

Mr Aminu said concerns that the proposed institute would duplicate the statutory functions of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) were based on an incorrect, ungazetted version of the bill.

He disclosed that he discovered committee members and several stakeholders had been working with the wrong draft, while his presentation was based on the officially gazetted version published by the National Assembly on December 8, 2025.

The acting chief executive said he subsequently submitted hard copies of the gazetted bill to the committee secretariat to correct the error and ensure lawmakers considered the authentic version during deliberations on the proposal.

Representative of the NCDC at the public hearing, Jide Idris, expressed support for upgrading the Zaria facility into a tertiary institution dedicated to teaching, research and clinical services, provided its statutory mandate remained complementary to the agency.

Also speaking, Khadija Musa, chairperson of the board of trustees of the Public Health and Infectious Disease Management Practitioners Association of Nigeria, urged lawmakers to pass the bill, describing it as a strategic public health intervention.

Ms Musa said countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and South Africa, operate complementary public health institutions with clearly defined mandates, stressing that Nigeria also requires specialised institutions to address growing disease threats effectively.

However, the Health Sector Reform Coalition urged the committee to reject the bill, arguing that it could create overlapping institutional responsibilities, and recommended increased funding, legislative amendments, and an expanded regional presence for the NCDC.

Stakeholders from across the health sector presented memoranda before the committee as lawmakers continued deliberations on the proposed legislation aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s capacity for infectious disease prevention, research, training and response.

(NAN)