Health workers under the aegis of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) have condemned the proposed amendment bills transmitted to the National Assembly by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for review and passage into law, describing the move as an attempt that could endanger the lives of health-seeking Nigerians and patients nationwide.
They argued that passing the proposed amendments, particularly those concerning the control and regulation of other healthcare team members, would further weaken Nigeria’s healthcare delivery structure at the expense of patients.
Pharmanews reports that President Tinubu recently forwarded 24 health sector bills to the Senate for legislative consideration, with the stated aim of streamlining governance structures across health institutions by reducing what he described as bloated board memberships. According to the president, the objective is to improve efficiency, effectiveness and service delivery across the sector.
Some of the amendment bills transmitted to the Senate concern the review of professional regulatory councils, hospital boards and agencies, including the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria, the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, the National Hospital for Women and Children, Federal Medical Centres, National Specialty Hospitals Management Board and Orthopaedic Hospitals Management Board.
Others include the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, the National Eye Centre, the National Ear Care Centre, and the National Blood Service Agency. The president also transmitted additional legislative proposals, including the Records Officers Registration and Digital Health Bill 2025.
In separate interviews with the President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Pharm. Tanko Ayuba, and the President, Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN), Dr Ifeanyi Casmir, the 24 executive bills were described as alarming and a grand design capable of destroying the health system. They warned the president to recall the bills from the Senate before it is too late.
“It is clear that there is an ulterior intent to put the lives of patients and health-seeking members of the public in jeopardy. It is not about our profession, because you cannot, by any stretch of imagination, diminish a profession,” they said.
They argued that the proposed dissolution of professional regulatory councils — to be reconstituted with a vast majority of medical doctors — is tantamount to neutralising the multidisciplinary nature of the healthcare team, thereby placing patients’ lives at risk. According to them, the move undermines the professionalism of other healthcare workers and could spell doom for the nation’s health sector.
“What you are about to do by tinkering with the professional charter is maligning care, access to care, quality care and ultimately putting the lives of health-seeking members of the public in jeopardy. That is our concern. Our concern is that if the executive bill goes through, I can authoritatively tell any Nigerian not to access healthcare in Nigeria again,” Casmir stated.
The AMLSN president alleged that the amendment bills are the brainchild of the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, in collaboration with other officers at the ministry, adding that the president may have been wrongly briefed. He described the proposition as a catastrophe and a danger waiting to happen to Nigerians.
He noted that Nigeria has consistently ranked between 180 and 190 out of 192 countries globally on health performance indices, and between 48 and 50 out of 54 African countries, citing Bloomberg health rankings.
The PSN President, Pharm. Ayuba, also faulted the move to review extant laws granting independent authority to the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) to regulate education, training, licensing, inspection and discipline across the pharmaceutical value chain. He warned that weakening the Council’s autonomy could undermine drug safety and public health.
He insisted that the governing board of the PCN must reflect professional expertise rather than what he described as “community interest” representation.
Ayuba further cited several legal precedents, including a 2007 Federal High Court ruling in Lagos which affirmed the powers of the PCN to regulate pharmacy practice in both public and private sectors.
He explained that physicians had, in the past, resisted inspectorate teams of the PCN, MLSCN and RRBN from performing their statutory functions, but “the courts have always validated the right and authority of other healthcare professions to regulate their practice in the best interest of society and patients.”
In a related development, JOHESU, in a statement signed by its National Chairman, Kabiru Ado Minjibir, and General Secretary, Martin Egbanubi, described the exercise as “an attempt to foist an apartheid regime in the Nigerian health sector by imposing medical and dental practitioners on the professional regulatory control of other healthcare professions that are distinct and separate from medicine and dentistry.”
The union argued that such amendments would undermine the multidisciplinary nature of healthcare, which relies on collaboration among diverse professional groups, each with legally defined areas of competence.
It further contended that the interdependence and teamwork of all professions in the sector exist for the greatest benefit of society, as “each profession in the sector has its body of knowledge, skill set, regulatory and practice framework as prescribed by law and other statutory instruments of government to ensure the protection of society through adherence to practice standards and ethical conduct.”
Dr Casmir urged President Tinubu to suspend action on the executive bills if he remains committed to his renewed health agenda, which they have publicly lauded on several platforms. He stressed that if the president is genuinely interested in strengthening the health system, he should stand down the proposed amendments.
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