The Senate Wednesday began consideration of a bill seeking to repeal and re-enact the National Primary Health Care Development Agency Act to provide a more comprehensive and responsive framework for the delivery of equitable and accessible health services across the country.

The proposed legislation, titled National Primary Health Care Development Agency (Repeal and Enactment) Bill, 2025 (SB. 900), was sponsored by Solomon Olamilekan Adeola ( Ogun west).

Leading the debate at plenary, Adeola said the bill aims to reposition the agency as the driver of universal access to quality primary health care, in line with Nigeria’s health sector reforms and global best practices.

“Primary health care remains the foundation of every functional health system because it is the closest form of healthcare service available to the people,  the first point of contact for preventive and basic curative services”, he said .

He added that the existing act, which established the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) in the early 1990s, has become obsolete and unable to respond to present-day health realities.