Easiest goodbye to say
Lagos might be the first Nigerian state to eliminate a common enemy
Good morning, Big Brains. I don’t know what’s worse, the internet calling Tinubu a master strategist or my pumping machine spoiling. It was an interesting weekend for sure. Are you ready to get through another week of capitalism? I know I’m not
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- Margaret
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Let’s get into the news you missed during the weekend:
Lagos might be the first Nigerian state to eliminate a common enemy
Lawmakers want to fix some of JAMB’s problems
The Big Deal
Lagos might be the first Nigerian state to eliminate a common enemy
Lagos state is deep in its Sam Smith era. The forces working in alignment with the state are singing “I’m way too good at goodbyes” for malaria and it seems to be getting the memo.
According to the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, the state's malaria prevalence has now dropped to 1.3%, indicating that it is on its way to becoming malaria-free.
This is pretty impressive, especially considering that the malaria prevalence in Lagos State was 15% in 2010, reducing significantly to 3% in 2023 and now at 1.3% in 2025.
Abayomi explained that Lagos State was able to achieve this level of success due to its strong partnerships with organisations like the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Federal Ministry of Health, and the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN).
Why is this a big deal?
We might have completely accepted malaria as a part of the Nigerian experience, but it’s still a dangerous disease. Unfortunately, Nigeria is its biggest victim. We currently have the highest number of malaria cases in the world, making up about 27% of malaria cases recorded globally. And the worst part is that the disease kills up to 90,000 Nigerians every year. That isn’t exactly something we should normalise.
If you’re wondering if a country can truly be malaria-free, Egypt is a shining example of that possibility. For 100 years, the country struggled with malaria but in 2024, it was declared malaria-free by the WHO. We’ll adopt Nigerian parents’ lingo and say that Egypt doesn’t have two heads. There’s no reason why Nigeria cannot at least try to work towards this goal too.
Clearly, whatever Lagos state has been doing since 2023 is working, and states like Kebbi, where the prevalence of malaria is as high as 49%, need to come for lessons. Beyond the high prevalence level places, every other state can adopt their methods to lower the malaria menace. If the lowering trend continues, it is a win for the entire country.
The effort to eliminate malaria is more important than ever, considering the alarming rate at which our doctor-to-patient ratio keeps dropping due to the japa wave. Currently, at one doctor to 10,000 patients, things could get even worse, so there’s no better time than now to jazz up.
Lawmakers want to fix some of JAMB’s problems
If you’ve ever written the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), you’ll agree that the process of writing the exam can be chaotic. Candidates and parents have endlessly complained about this without seeing much of a change, but there’s a tiny chance that things might improve next year.
The Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions has promised to set up new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) centres in all 774 local government areas, starting in 2026.
Muntari Dandutse, who chairs the committee, said the Senate and House of Representatives would work together to make sure there’s an allocation in the 2026 budget to fix the shortage of ICT centres and make the UTME process easier and more accessible for every student.
According to JAMB’s spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, this proposed allocation could change things for the better. Currently at a total of 880, the ICT centres in the country are not only inadequate, they’re also not evenly spread out across the country. For context, some local governments can not boast of one ICT centre. This inadequacy keeps forcing UTME candidates to travel across state lines to sit for the exams, which is dangerous considering that most of these students are teenagers and Nigeria is not exactly popular for security at he moment.
If these lawmakers keep their word, it could change everything.
Your next big read
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