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Union Tells Tinubu To Appoint A Non-physician As Health Minister
The Joint Health Sector Union, JOHESU, has asked President Bola Tinubu to appoint a non-physician health minister even though it opposes the sale of teaching hospital facilities to private profiteers while the review of ministerial nominees continues.
Mathew Ajurotu stated to other medical professionals that the sale of the teaching hospitals will negatively effect their emoluments contrary to their perceptions in a letter to the President signed by the Acting National Secretary for the National President, JOHESU, and AHPA.
JOHESU argued that the salaries of 20% of the sector’s workers, which account for 60% of the personnel expenditures for the overall health staff in FHIs, are not served by the sales of Federal Health Institutions.
The health workers called for caution on the part of other medical professionals who have been assured that the sale of the facilities won’t affect them.
JOHESU/AHPA said that despite constituting 20 per cent of the total workforce in the sector, it is certain that private profiteers will fire them given reducing overhead costs.
According to them and the Assembly of Healthcare Professional Association, AHPA, those advocating for concessionaires are avaricious and would increase the healthcare problem and indexes.
The group pleaded with well-meaning Nigerians to take action and prevent the Federal Government from privatising the FHIs.
The letter further states: “Conscionable Nigerians should assist the Federal Government to be decisive in taking a position that the profiteers, concessionaires, greedy entrepreneurs and their collaborators in Government jostling to take over the FHIs be responsible enough to build their world-class health facilities like their presumed equivalents do in the global arena.
“Even in Nigeria today, we have a few tertiary hospitals like Duchess and Reddington Hospital which continue to make footprints in the sands of our evolving healthcare dispensation.
“In Lagos State, where the privatisation of healthcare was kick-started by these same dramatis personae, the experiment has failed. The privatised pharmacies which were about six at inception have failed in at least four of the centres at huge losses to the Lagos State Government, LASG.”
At the Federal level, the commercialisation of the Pharmacy facility of the University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan, collapsed and the concession of Garki Hospital, Abuja, has never been a value-added decision.
Today, that facility is a shadow of itself, as it has become inaccessible to a wide range of consumers of health in the Abuja area.
“We therefore strongly urge the Federal Government not to contemplate the privatisation of Teaching Hospital facilities to private profiteers. We must seize the discourse to advise other health professionals who have been promised that the concession of these facilities will not affect them to be wary and discern wisely.
“Private profiteers will naturally get rid of the block of health professionals whose wages consume 60 per cent of the personnel cost of the entire health workforce in FHIs even when they constitute less than 20 per cent of the entire personnel in the health sector,” it added.
Privatising FHIs, against healthcare equity, accessibility
JOHESU listed the consequences of concessions, privatisation, and outsourcing saying that it does not promote Universal Health Coverage, but would lead to inequity and accessibility rather than efficiency and profitability.
The letter further reads, “Given the monopolistic nature of health systems because of the inelastic nature of their demands, there is little or no probability of competitiveness. It follows that a monopoly that comes with exploitation becomes the order of the day.
“High charges generate crazy profits at the detriment of efficiency, which ultimately defeats the goal of accessibility to health facilities in real terms because health cannot be delivered to vulnerable groups.
“Equity and accessibility rather than efficiency and profitability should be the benchmark to measure performance in healthcare. Patient-care-centred services cannot be the hallmark of concessions and privatisation because profit is the watchword.
“In the proposed privatisation and concession models, the Government’s role is largely regulatory, which is at the same cost as owning the FHI. As stronger institutions outlive the weaker ones which further limits the availability and choices of the citizens, the monopolistic tendencies of formidable profiteers play out at the detriment of consumers of health.
“Privatisation calls to question the integrity of the management of the FHIs dominated by Physicians since the advent of the Teaching Hospital Act of 1985. It is the biggest confirmation of the failure of Physicians in the running of the public hospital system in Nigeria.
“How come these same facilities hitherto dubbed Centres of Excellence in some instances have suddenly become failed enterprises? The only explanation remains that Nigerian Physicians are not seasoned administrators or managers of cognate experience.
“The government, therefore, needs to tinker with the health system by reverting management of FHIs to professionally trained administrators and managers, while health professionals are allowed to embrace their areas of due competence in the public’s good. This is the trend which is in alignment with global best practices,” JOHESU added.
Increased drug costs, out-of-pocket expenses
The health workers further said that privatising teaching hospitals would increase the cost of drugs and diagnostic services which will lead to higher out-of-pocket expenses, leading to more difficulty in healthcare access.
The letter reads, “Generally, privatisation of health services is a precursor to the increased cost of drugs and diagnostic services which will naturally impact on out-of-pocket costs, leading to hardship and more stress junctures in accessing healthcare.
“The privatisation of health facilities is a hurricane that compounds unproductivity in healthcare. The preponderance of Nigerians who live in poverty and squalor will not be able to access or afford health and its major components, which include the use of safe and efficacious drugs in the event of this dreaded reality,” it added.
CEOs of FHIs, MDAs must take hospital management courses
While alleging that the MDAs are adjudged to be the most corrupt sector, JOHESU urged Federal Government to compel CEOs of FHIs, Departments, and Agencies to undergo Health Systems and hospital management courses.
The letter said, “In the interim, the FG must compel all the CEOs of the FHIs, Departments, and Agencies of the Health Sector to run administrative as well as management programmes in Health Systems with bias in hospital management. This will help these incumbent CEOs to administer albeit much better the FHIs, other Departments, and Agencies.
“The FMOH must however make it abundantly clear that it will no longer be automatic for erring CEOs of FHIs to complete their tenure of four years when found wanting.
“Permanently, the FG must return the business of hospital management and administration to seasoned administrators and managers of cognate experience.
“All health professionals who desire to head hospitals in Nigeria must henceforth undertake specialist management and administrative courses at post-graduate levels in specialised schools and institutes.
“These health professionals including Pharmacists, Physicians, Physiotherapists, Medical Laboratory Scientists, and other health workers must be made to study health administration and management in their reviewed curriculum even at the undergraduate level moving forward.
“The Federal Government is enjoined to encourage the management of FHIs that are ready to embark or consolidate the concept of amenity facilities in the FHIs. These services will be available to the nouveau riche who can afford such hyped services.
It will reduce health tourism and save the nation’s hard-earned forex.
“The militating bane remains the tendency to abuse these amenity facilities in FHIs by some of the CEOs.
“We at JOHESU/AHPA have had cause to send evidence-based complaints about misnomers in the handling of DRF Funds and mismanagement of amenity ward resources by some of the CEOs of FHIs.
“An outstanding instance was the report made on the MD/CEO of the NOH, Igbobi which made the FMOH initially declare its readiness to probe this MD/CEO until it later reneged on the probe,” it added.
Incentivise Health Workers Offering Surgeries, Pharmaceutical Care
JOHESU appealed, “Government must incentivise all health professionals and workers who render services including surgeries, pharmaceutical care, diagnostic services with agreed percentages of income realized as amenity allowances to compensate for their skills, time and the totality of their output.
“Your Excellency, as Ministers will be deployed to Ministries in the days ahead, JOHESU/AHPA reiterates its calls for the appointment of a non-Physician Health Minister to pave the way for the restoration of the hitherto great times when Health Administrators steered the ship of healthcare successfully to attract the likes of the Saudi Royal family to UCH, Ibadan in the ‘70s.
“This was the era our Health System was rated as one of the top five in the commonwealth,” JOHESU added.
Katsina State Governor, Dikko Umaru Radda, has called on traditional rulers to strengthen their collaboration with the government and security agencies to tackle insecurity and protect farmers, traders and other residents across the state.
Radda made the appeal during a meeting with the District Head of Bakori, Alhaji Garba Tukur Idris, Makaman Katsina, and other traditional leaders in Bakori Local Government Area.
The engagement, which formed part of activities of the Tinubu–Dikko 2027 Campaign Council, was disclosed in a statement issued on November 1, 2026, by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Ibrahim Kaula Mohammed.
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The governor said traditional institutions remained essential to efforts to achieve lasting security and development, particularly because of their influence and close relationship with local communities.
“Government cannot achieve sustainable security and grassroots development without the active cooperation of traditional rulers, community elders and other local stakeholders,” Radda said.
He urged traditional leaders to work more closely with security agencies and other community stakeholders to address security threats and strengthen peace across their respective communities.
“Your role in maintaining peace and order in our communities is very important. We need your cooperation to address security challenges and advance development at the grassroots,” he added.
Radda also reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to protecting lives and property, strengthening security operations and ensuring farmers could access their farmlands while traders conducted their businesses without fear.
He called for a coordinated approach involving traditional rulers, security agencies, political leaders, youths and women, stressing the importance of collective action in tackling insecurity and creating economic opportunities.
In his response, the District Head of Bakori, Garba Tukur Idris, welcomed the governor and his delegation, commending the engagement and the relationship between the government and traditional institutions.
Idris identified agriculture, trading and commerce as the major economic activities in Bakori, while highlighting the area’s skilled and unskilled labour force, dams and boreholes as resources that could support increased agricultural productivity and attract investment.
He also commended the cooperation among traditional institutions, local government authorities, security agencies and residents in maintaining peace, urging stakeholders to sustain the collaboration to protect their communities.
The Chairman of Bakori Local Government Area, Musa Abubakar Barde, said the delegation was also in the area to seek the blessings and support of traditional rulers and community stakeholders for the Tinubu–Dikko 2027 campaign.
The delegation included Deputy Governor Faruk Lawal; Campaign Director-General, Ahmed Musa Dangiwa; Campaign Council Co-Chairman, Mustapha Muhammad Inuwa; Deputy Director-General, Abdulkadir Mamman Nasir; and Secretary-General, Abdullahi Aliyu Turaji, among others.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has defended President Bola Tinubu’s 2023 campaign promise to ensure stable electricity supply and end estimated billing, saying his administration is taking steps to address longstanding challenges in the power sector.
In a press statement, the council urged Nigerians to consider the full context of Tinubu’s campaign remarks, arguing that some recent public commentary had reproduced his electricity pledge without including his concluding qualification.
Tinubu had made the promise during a meeting with members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) in Lagos ahead of the 2023 general elections.
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At the meeting, he assured Nigerians that his administration would tackle the country’s electricity challenges and end estimated billing.
“Whichever way, by all means necessary, you will have electricity, and you will not pay for estimated bills anymore. A promise made will be a promise kept,” Tinubu said.
He also stated that if he failed to fulfil the promise before seeking a second term, Nigerians should not vote for him unless he provided adequate reasons for his inability to deliver.
The council said the President’s pledge should be assessed alongside the administration’s record since 2023, particularly its interventions in electricity generation, metering, infrastructure and market stability.
It acknowledged that resolving Nigeria’s power sector crisis remained unfinished but maintained that Tinubu’s commitment to addressing the challenges had not diminished.
Highlighting the administration’s reforms, the council said Tinubu signed the Electricity Act, 2023, on June 9, less than two weeks after assuming office.
According to the statement, the legislation liberalised the electricity sector, allowing state governments to participate in electricity generation, transmission and distribution.
It listed Lagos, Enugu, Abia, Ekiti, Oyo, Kaduna and Niger among states that had established their electricity regulatory agencies to take advantage of the new framework and attract private investment.
The council also said the administration had taken on more than ₦6 trillion in accumulated legacy debts in the power sector between 2015 and 2025.
It added that the government introduced the Presidential Metering Initiative to address a metering gap of more than seven million customers.
According to the statement, more than 1.5 million electricity customers have been metered under the initiative in the last three years.
The council further highlighted the administration’s electricity tariff adjustments, describing them as necessary to restore liquidity to the electricity market, while noting that measures had been introduced to protect low-income households.
On rural electrification, it said the Rural Electrification Agency had connected universities, hospitals and rural communities to solar power.
The government has also unveiled plans to modernise the Osogbo Grid Control Centre, which was built more than 60 years ago, and construct an East-West super grid to strengthen transmission infrastructure.
The statement further disclosed that the administration established a ₦4 trillion bond programme to settle verified legacy debts owed to 21 electricity generation companies (Gencos) and gas companies (Gascos).
It said the first and second tranches of the programme had raised more than ₦1.2 trillion towards settling part of the verified debts.
The council maintained that the intervention had helped reposition the electricity market and reduce investment risks, pointing to recent investment plans by Geregu Power Plc.
It cited the company’s announcement of investments in new power transformers to improve operations at the Geregu 1 Power Plant, adding that other firms were also making similar investments.
The APC Presidential Campaign Council insisted that the administration was working to address the country’s electricity challenges, while maintaining that Tinubu’s campaign promise should be judged in the context of both his full remarks and the reforms undertaken since assuming office.
The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has disclosed that two mobile phones allegedly stolen from members of his team during Friday’s attack in Ado-Ekiti have been traced to locations near the Ekiti State Governor’s Office and Fajuyi Park.
Sowore made the disclosure in a post on X on Sunday, November 1, 2026, while renewing his demand for the release of CCTV footage from Tawakalitu Restaurant, where he and members of his team were attacked on October 30.
According to him, one of the stolen devices was traced to a location directly opposite the office of Governor Biodun Oyebanji, while another was located opposite Fajuyi Park in Ado-Ekiti.
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Describing the discoveries as disturbing, Sowore questioned why the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services (DSS) had yet to release the CCTV footage allegedly seized from the restaurant.
“This morning, we tracked two of the devices violently robbed from members of our team during the brutal attack in Ado-Ekiti on Friday, October 30, 2026, and the locations are deeply disturbing,” he wrote.
“One phone was traced to a location directly opposite the office of the Executive Governor of Ekiti State, while our other devices were located opposite Fajuyi Park in Ado-Ekiti,” he added.
The activist subsequently renewed his demand for the release of the surveillance footage, insisting that the recordings from the restaurant should be made public.
“Meanwhile, the Nigeria Police Force and the DSS have yet to release the CCTV footage seized from Tawakalitu Restaurant, where we were attacked.
“RELEASE THE CCTV FOOTAGE NOW!” he demanded.
The latest disclosure follows an attack on Sowore and members of his entourage at Tawakalitu Restaurant in Ado-Ekiti on Friday, shortly after the activist participated in a radio interview in the state.
Sowore had alleged that armed men attacked his team, assaulted some members and dispossessed them of their personal belongings, including mobile phones.
The incident generated controversy after the Ekiti State Police Command initially described it as an altercation involving Sowore and some individuals, while the activist maintained that his team was violently attacked.
The police subsequently announced the arrest of 11 suspects in connection with the incident.
According to the police, operatives of the Rapid Response Squad arrested the suspects at their hideouts in the Atikankan area of Ado-Ekiti at about 10 p.m. on October 30.
Items reportedly recovered during the operation included 13 mobile phones, two walkie-talkies, seven ATM cards, eight international passports, vehicle keys and other belongings.
The police said investigations were ongoing to establish the roles of the suspects and determine their possible involvement in the incident.
Sowore’s latest disclosure has renewed calls for the release of the restaurant’s CCTV footage, which he believes could provide further evidence about the circumstances surrounding the attack.
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