By Steven Atokolo
The Health Reform Initiative Nigeria (He-RIN), a civil society organisation committed to health sector reform through improved funding, accountability and local capacity development, has rejected the SNG Health Agreement signed with the Federal Ministry of Health, describing it as self-serving, misleading and aimed at weakening existing local mosquito net manufacturers.
In a joint statement issued on Wednesday by its Executive Director, Sunday Tobi, and Secretary, Abdul Musa, the organisation faulted the agreement that birthed a partnership between Vestergaard and Harvestfield, which led to the creation of SNG Health for the supply of mosquito nets in Nigeria.
He-RIN said the arrangement represents a continuation of the operations of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), which it alleged previously dominated the sector under questionable conditions.
“From evidence widely reported in the media weeks ago, the so-called SNG Health was incubated by UNOPS at the instance of the Federal Ministry of Health through a Swiss company, in collaboration with the World Bank Nigeria, which operates as a sister organisation to UNOPS,” the statement said.
The organisation accused the Ministry of Health of deliberately undermining local manufacturers of insecticide-treated mosquito nets, linking Nigeria’s persistent malaria burden and failure to significantly reduce malaria-related deaths to what it described as the ministry’s long-standing collaboration with UNOPS, predating the Bola Tinubu administration that came into office in 2023.
He-RIN noted that Nigeria continues to carry the world’s highest malaria burden. According to the World Health Organization’s World Malaria Report, the country accounts for about 27 per cent of global malaria cases and 31 per cent of malaria-related deaths, with an estimated 184,000 deaths annually, largely among children under five and pregnant women.
The group said this situation persists despite substantial public spending on health. Data from the Budget Office of the Federation show that the health sector has consistently received only between four and six per cent of the annual national budget, far below the 15 per cent target set by the Abuja Declaration.
In the 2024 Federal Budget, the health sector was allocated about N1.3 trillion, representing just over five per cent of total government expenditure.
On malaria-specific funding, He-RIN disclosed that between 2015 and 2023, Nigeria received and deployed more than N1.5 billion for malaria control interventions, based on figures from the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) and partner funding disclosures.
According to the organisation, most of the funds—largely from the Global Fund, World Bank, USAID and UN agencies—were spent on procuring and distributing insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs), indoor residual spraying, diagnostics and antimalarial medicines.
“Despite the scale of this investment, Nigeria continues to struggle with malaria control due to policy inconsistency, excessive dependence on imported mosquito nets, weak local manufacturing capacity and non-transparent procurement practices,” He-RIN stated.
The group recalled that the Federal Government concluded arrangements for local production of mosquito nets after a competitive bidding process completed in 2022, but alleged that the process was abruptly halted at the instance of UNOPS shortly after the current administration assumed office.
“Since then, there has been no meaningful investment in the sector. Mosquitoes continue to devastate communities, while Nigeria remains the world’s most malaria-burdened country,” the statement added.
He-RIN said the developments contradict President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda for the health sector, which emphasises a Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp) to Universal Health Coverage (UHC), increased funding, strengthened Primary Health Care through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), reforms under the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), health workforce development and the promotion of local production as a foundation for a resilient health system.
The organisation stressed that had local manufacturers not been denied access to a proposed $100 million contract for local production of insecticide-treated nets, millions of direct and indirect jobs could have been created, foreign exchange conserved and malaria-related deaths significantly reduced.
He-RIN maintained that SNG Health does not serve Nigeria’s best interests, describing it as a re-emergence of vested interests within the Ministry of Health working with UNOPS, following what it alleged was a failed attempt to divert the $100 million initiative.
The group called on President Tinubu to urgently investigate the matter, questioning why the Ministry of Health, in its view, is prioritising profit-driven arrangements over the health and lives of Nigerians, while malaria continues to claim hundreds of thousands of lives annually.
It also expressed concern that the Minister of Health has never publicly acknowledged the existence of local long-lasting insecticidal net (LLIN) manufacturers in Nigeria, despite their verifiable presence, international certifications and documented supply history to agencies such as the Global Fund and the World Bank.
He-RIN alleged that the Minister assumed office with a conflict of interest, having previously worked in alignment with Vestergaard, and has since promoted policies that favour personal and commercial interests while disadvantaging Nigerian-owned manufacturers.
The organisation further alleged that Vestergaard, a partner in SNG Health, was responsible for the closure of more than 20 mosquito net manufacturing firms in Nigeria, including clusters in Lagos, Aba, Kano and Onitsha, following the introduction of standard LLINs distributed free nationwide, which it said destroyed the commercial market.
According to He-RIN, the Minister encouraged UNOPS to exclude local manufacturers who had invested heavily—often through personal and borrowed funds—to establish LLIN factories, creating a vacuum that enabled SNG Health to emerge as the preferred supplier.
The group also alleged that malaria intervention campaigns in World Bank-supported states were delayed until the SNG Health agreement was finalised, allowing procurement contracts to be channeled to the arrangement.
He-RIN claimed that the Minister pushed for the award of over 25 million Global Fund-supported LLINs to a limited group of favoured companies without reference to any publicly disclosed, Nigeria-specific epidemiological study, despite existing national data showing that multiple LLIN types remain effective across different regions.
The organisation noted that epidemiological evidence supports deploying different LLIN technologies tailored to regional mosquito species and resistance patterns, stressing that mosquitoes in Lagos differ from those in Ebonyi and Sokoto States, making a one-size-fits-all approach scientifically unjustifiable.
It asserted that corruption, rather than public health outcomes, appears to drive policies that ignore existing local manufacturers who had previously invested millions of dollars to establish LLIN factories and successfully supplied international donors, including the Global Fund and the World Bank.
He-RIN recalled that the Ministry of Health is still indebted to local manufacturers for supplies delivered over a decade ago, even as those manufacturers once showcased Nigeria’s capacity by producing the world’s largest mosquito net—recognised by the Guinness World Records and displayed at Eagle Square, Abuja, during the African Leaders’ Summit on Roll Back Malaria.
The group said the initiative was meant to demonstrate Nigeria’s manufacturing potential, promote sustained local production of LLINs and justify continued government and donor patronage for manufacturers who had borrowed heavily to establish factories.
He-RIN questioned why SNG Health was prioritised when Nigerian manufacturers could have been supported through sovereign-backed loan guarantees of up to $40 million, alongside assured market access, achieving the same objectives without displacing existing players.
The organisation warned that the current policy framework is detrimental to local manufacturers, as SNG Health competes in the same limited market while enjoying preferential treatment that distorts competition and threatens industry survival.
It further alleged that the Minister stalled the issuance of tenders for World Bank-borrowed funds for more than two years—despite rising malaria deaths among children—until the SNG Health plan was fully positioned, and cautioned that similar tactics are now being pursued under the pretext of promoting “dual” LLIN technology.
“We therefore call on President Bola Tinubu to act in the national interest by stopping the SNG Health arrangement and directing the Ministry of Health to publicly account for what happened to the $100 million initiative meant for local mosquito net manufacturing,” the statement concluded.