By Muhammad Amaan
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako, has challenged Nigerian doctors and other health professionals to match rising government investment in the health sector with stronger professional discipline.
He warned that without accountability and ethical conduct, public trust could be eroded at the point of care despite increased funding.
Dr Salako spoke on Wednesday at the opening of the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in Abuja, where he said the transformation of Nigeria’s health system would require a reciprocal commitment from government and medical professionals.
The meeting, themed “Transforming Healthcare Practice in Nigeria: Building Trust, Accountability and Collaborative Excellence,” brought the question of professional conduct to the centre of discussions around the country’s health-sector reforms.
Speaking as both a government official and a practising medical doctor, Dr Salako said government’s investment could only produce sustainable improvements if patients encountered a health system defined by competence, integrity and accountability.
He argued that Nigerians do not experience healthcare reforms through budget documents or government programmes but through their direct encounters with doctors, nurses and other health workers.
According to him, absenteeism, informal payments, diversion of public patients to private facilities and other unethical practices could undermine the impact of billions of naira being committed to rebuilding the sector.
“Every naira we invest in the health sector can become discounted by those encounters if the highest sense of duty is not exhibited,” he warned.
Dr Salako said the Federal Government’s reforms under the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative were already producing measurable outcomes, citing stronger financing and performance monitoring across the sector.
He disclosed that the health’s share of the national budget had risen to 5.2 per cent, while funding for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) increased from N131.5 billion in 2024 to N299 billion in 2026.
The minister said more than 8,000 primary healthcare facilities were now receiving direct financing, while nearly 4,000 PHCs had been upgraded.
He added that implementation of key indicators under the health-sector Compact with the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory stood at 84 per cent after the 2025 Joint Annual Review.
According to him, 35 states and the FCT had completed their Joint Annual Reviews and Performance Dialogues.
Dr Salako also pointed to progress in maternal and newborn health, saying the 172 highest-burden local government areas recorded a 17 per cent reduction in maternal deaths and a 12 per cent decline in newborn deaths under the Maternal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative.
He said more than 48,000 women had received free emergency obstetric care, while over 4,000 free Caesarean sections had been performed in NHIA-empanelled facilities.
In addition, more than 4,700 women had received free Vesico-Vaginal Fistula (VVF) repairs across 207 facilities, he disclosed.
Salako said the figures demonstrated that increased investment could translate into measurable health outcomes when supported by effective implementation and accountability.
On the health workforce crisis, the minister disclosed that the Federal Government had recruited more than 37,000 workers into federal tertiary hospitals since 2024, with about 75 per cent of the new recruits in the clinical cadre.
He said special allowances for health workers had also been increased, while incentives such as the Medical Residency Training Fund were being implemented.
He added that annual medical-school admission quotas had doubled from approximately 5,000 to 10,000.
The government had also committed N110 billion through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for the rehabilitation of 18 medical, dental, pharmacy and nursing training institutions.
Dr Salako said the National Policy on Health Workforce Migration had equally been adopted to provide a structured response to the continued movement of Nigerian health professionals abroad.
The minister said the Federal Government would continue engaging doctors over welfare and workplace concerns, pointing to its August 4, 2026 meeting with the leadership of the National Association of Resident Doctors.
He called for stronger clinical governance through credible mortality and morbidity reviews, honest maternal and perinatal death surveillance, monitoring of waiting times and consultant availability, as well as effective disciplinary mechanisms.
He also urged the NMA to ensure that industrial action remained a genuine last resort and that emergency services were protected whenever disputes arose.
Dr Salako said the government was strengthening accountability mechanisms around health spending through the Sector-Wide Approach, Joint Annual Reviews and Performance Dialogues, direct facility financing and the deployment of National Health Fellows and Public Financial Management Officers across the 774 local government areas.
He disclosed that the Ministry had established a Ministerial Oversight Committee for the BHCPF involving subnational governments, development partners, civil society and the private sector.
In a further step aimed at strengthening transparency, he said the ministry had voluntarily invited the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to participate in its monitoring mechanisms.
The Minister also revealed the scale of the government’s crackdown on falsified and unsafe medical products.
He said NMA state branches should serve as an important surveillance layer in identifying and reporting unqualified practitioners.
He disclosed that the National Tertiary Health Institutions Standard Committee had developed National Standards and Guidelines for Organ/Tissue Transplantation.
The guidelines require informed consent from donors and recipients, certification of facilities and prohibit commercialisation of organs and tissues.
Dr Salako said relevant agencies and parastatals had been directed to assist the Nigeria Police in investigating the allegations and establishing the facts.
On task-shifting and task-sharing, the minister said the policy was intended to expand access to healthcare while maintaining patient safety.
He urged professional associations to resolve disagreements over scope of practice through regulatory and institutional mechanisms rather than media confrontations or industrial actions capable of disrupting patient care.
The minister proposed a reciprocal compact between the government and the NMA.
He said government should honour its commitments and collective bargaining agreements, sustain increased health financing, protect health workers at their duty posts through appropriate legislation, expand training capacity without compromising accreditation standards and ensure that doctors have a meaningful voice in workforce and scope-of-practice decisions.
Dr Salako tasked the NMA with strengthening internal discipline, leading anti-quackery campaigns, promoting inter-professional respect and ensuring that strikes do not unnecessarily compromise emergency healthcare.
Dr Salako said neither the government nor the medical profession could transform Nigeria’s healthcare system independently.
“We can go on measuring each other’s failures with great precision, or we can be measured together by the only indicator that matters,” he said, arguing that the ultimate test should be whether a Nigerian entering a health facility receives dignified and affordable care and leaves alive and better than when they arrived.
He commended the NMA President, Professor Afekhide Ernest Omoti, the National Officers Committee, the Local Organising Committee and Nigerian doctors for their contributions to healthcare development.
He urged the association to use its NEC meeting to develop practical measures capable of rebuilding public confidence in Nigeria’s healthcare system while strengthening collaboration between government and health professionals.
