By Fatima Saka
Abuja, Nigeria — Senator Garba Musa Maidoki (Kebbi South) has urged the Senate to formally recognise and legalise six already-existing sickle cell centres across the country, insisting they be incorporated into the Sickle Cell Anaemia Disorder Research and Therapy Centre Establishment Bill currently under legislative review.
Speaking at Monday’s one-day public hearing of the Senate Committee on Health (Secondary and Tertiary), Senator Maidoki noted that although the Federal Government had established, equipped, and staffed six centres across the geopolitical zones, they continue to operate without statutory backing.
While interfacing with the newsmen: “We are fully in support of creating the new centres as proposed by Senator Sunday Marshall Katung on the Sickle Cell Anaemia Disorder Research and Therapy Centre Establishment Bill (2025) 5B893,” Maidoki said. “But we also want the six that already exist to be included in this bill. The government has invested in them, equipment is there, staff are there, but they were created without legal backing. One law should cover them all.”
“The stakeholders at the public hearing strongly supported the Senator’s position, noting that giving legal status to the existing centres would broaden access to sickle cell care nationwide and curb duplication of government spending,” Maidoki emphasized.
The lawmaker highlighted that the Stakeholders input described the formalisation of 12 centres as “a decisive step toward reducing the burden of sickle cell disease nationwide,” stressing that the existing centres’ inclusion would be cost-effective since they are already funded and equipped.
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He added that only the newly proposed centres would require additional financial allocation, which could be supported by the Senate’s ongoing efforts to raise the health sector budget from 1% to 2%.
Committee Chairperson, Senator Ipalibo Harry Banigo, reaffirmed the Senate’s commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s health system, assuring that all recommendations would be harmonised before the bills return for plenary consideration.
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