By Fatima Saka
ABUJA, Aug. 26, 2026 — The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, has called on Nigerian doctors and other health professionals to strengthen accountability, ethical conduct and professional discipline, warning that increased government investment in healthcare could be undermined by poor treatment of patients and unethical practices.
Salako made the call on Wednesday while delivering the Guest of Honour Address at the opening of the National Executive Council (NEC) Meeting of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in Abuja, with the theme: “Transforming Healthcare Practice in Nigeria: Building Trust, Accountability and Collaborative Excellence.”
The Minister said trust remained central to the transformation of Nigeria’s health system and must be built through consistent professional conduct, measurable performance and accountability to patients, colleagues, employers and the public.
«“Trust is not a speech; it is a record,” Salako said.»
He said the Federal Government had significantly increased investment in the health sector under the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative and its Compact with the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
According to him, implementation of key indicators under the Compact stood at 84 per cent following the 2025 Joint Annual Review, while 35 states and the FCT had completed their Joint Annual Reviews and Performance Dialogues.
Salako also disclosed that the health sector’s share of the national budget had risen to 5.2 per cent, while the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) increased from ₦131.5 billion in 2024 to ₦299 billion in 2026.
He said the investments were already yielding results, including direct financing for more than 8,000 primary healthcare facilities, the upgrading of nearly 4,000 PHCs and increased utilisation of BHCPF-supported facilities.
On maternal and newborn health, the Minister said the Maternal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative had recorded a 17 per cent reduction in maternal deaths and a 12 per cent reduction in newborn deaths across the 172 highest-burden Local Government Areas.
He added that 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.
Salako further said more than 4,700 women had benefited from free vesico-vaginal fistula repairs across 207 facilities.
On health workforce development, he disclosed that over 37,000 workers had been recruited into Federal tertiary hospitals since 2024, with about 75 per cent of them in the clinical cadre.
He said special allowances for health workers had been increased, incentives such as the Medical Residency Training Fund were being implemented, while annual medical school admission quotas had been doubled from about 5,000 to 10,000.
The Minister also said ₦110 billion had been committed through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for the rehabilitation of 18 medical, dental, pharmacy and nursing training institutions.
According to him, the Federal Government had also adopted the National Policy on Health Workforce Migration to provide a structured response to the increasing migration of health professionals.
However, Salako stressed that increased funding and infrastructure alone would not transform the health system unless healthcare professionals demonstrated greater commitment to patients and ethical practice.
He warned that absenteeism, informal payments, diversion of public patients to private facilities and other unethical practices could erode public confidence in the health 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 said.
Salako described trust as a “two-way covenant,” noting that Nigerians experience the health system not through budgetary allocations and policy documents but through their direct encounters with doctors and other health workers.
He urged the NMA to regard professional conduct as a strategic asset and strengthen institutional discipline against unethical behaviour.
On accountability, the Minister said the Federal Government was strengthening systems to make health-sector performance measurable and transparent through the Sector-Wide Approach, Joint Annual Reviews, Performance Dialogues and direct facility financing.
He added that National Health Fellows and Public Financial Management Officers were being deployed across the 774 Local Government Areas to strengthen governance and accountability.
Salako said the Ministry had also established a Ministerial Oversight Committee for the BHCPF involving subnational governments, development partners, civil society organisations and the private sector.
He disclosed that the Ministry had voluntarily invited the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to participate in its monitoring mechanisms.
The Minister challenged doctors to embrace stronger clinical governance through effective mortality and morbidity reviews, honest maternal and perinatal death surveillance, monitoring of waiting times and consultant availability, as well as credible disciplinary processes.
On the menace of fake and substandard medicines, Salako said the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) had carried out one of its largest enforcement operations, screening more than 7,000 shops and removing 87 truckloads of falsified, banned and expired medical products valued at about ₦1 trillion from open drug markets in Aba, Onitsha and Lagos.
He also urged the medical profession to take a leading role in combating quackery, proposing a standing joint anti-quackery mechanism involving the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, NMA, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), NAFDAC and security agencies.
According to him, NMA state branches should serve as a critical surveillance layer in efforts to identify and eliminate unqualified medical practitioners.
On recent social media reports alleging an organ-harvesting syndicate operating in parts of the Federal Capital Territory, Salako said the Ministry was paying close attention to the allegations.
He said the National Tertiary Health Institutions Standard Committee had developed National Standards and Guidelines for Organ/Tissue Transplantation, which require informed consent from donors and recipients, certification of facilities and prohibit the commercialisation of human organs.
The Minister said relevant agencies and parastatals had been directed to support the Nigeria Police in investigating the allegations and establishing the facts.
Addressing task-shifting and task-sharing, Salako said the Federal Government’s policy was designed to expand access to healthcare while maintaining patient safety.
He urged professional groups to resolve scope-of-practice disagreements through institutional and regulatory mechanisms rather than media confrontations and industrial actions that could compromise patient care.
Salako also proposed reciprocal commitments between the Federal Government and the NMA, saying government must be accountable for honouring its commitments, respecting collective bargaining processes, sustaining increased health financing and protecting health workers at their duty posts.
He added that government must continue to expand training capacity while maintaining accreditation standards and ensure that the NMA had a meaningful voice in decisions concerning the health workforce and scope of practice.
In return, he urged the NMA to strengthen discipline against unethical conduct, ensure that industrial action remained a genuine last resort with emergency services protected, lead anti-quackery efforts at state and local levels, and promote inter-professional respect.
Salako said the Federal Government would continue constructive engagement with doctors and other health professionals on welfare and workplace concerns, recalling the Aug. 4, 2026 meeting with the leadership of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD).
He emphasised that meaningful healthcare transformation could not be achieved by government alone or without the support of doctors and other health professionals.
“We can go on measuring each other’s failures with great precision, or we can be measured together by the only indicator that matters: whether the Nigerian who walks into a health facility tomorrow is treated with dignity, gets the care he requires without being impoverished, walks out alive and better than when he walked in,” he said.
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The Minister declared the NEC meeting open and commended the President of the NMA, Dr. (Prof.) Afekhide Ernest Omoti, members of the National Officers Committee, the Local Organising Committee and Nigerian doctors for their contributions to healthcare development.
He wished the Association successful deliberations and urged participants to use the meeting to advance practical solutions capable of rebuilding trust and improving healthcare delivery across the country.
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