ACPN urges Tinubu to address physicians’ dominance

By Doris Obinna

The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has issued a passionate plea to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, calling for immediate intervention in what it describes as an entrenched culture of physician dominance and exclusionary practices in Nigeria’s health and education sectors.

In a letter signed by the ACPN National President, Ambrose Eze, the association expressed alarm over the marginalization of non-physician professionals in leadership roles and decision-making bodies, a trend it warns is undermining national development. The group accused certain government ministries and regulatory agencies of enabling this pattern, leading to growing resentment and dysfunction within key institutions.

The ACPN cited recent incidents at the University of Calabar (UNICAL) and Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) where, according to the association, physicians have leveraged strikes and political pressure to reverse or contest appointments that do not favor them.

At UNIZIK, for instance, ACPN alleged that the appointment of a Vice Chancellor was nullified under pressure from the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), despite non-physician candidates meeting academic criteria mandated by the National Universities Commission (NUC), such as the possession of a PhD.

The association also decried what it called a systemic bias in the appointment of medical doctors to head ministries and institutions, even in situations where more experienced professionals from other health or academic backgrounds are available.

It accused the Federal Ministry of Education, led by Dr. Tunji Alausa, a physician, of collaborating with medical associations to suppress the career progression of other health workers. In federal health institutions, only physicians are reportedly appointed as Chief Medical Directors or Chief Executive Officers, a trend dating back to 1985, which ACPN contends has no rational justification.

The group pointed to significant disparities in remuneration across professions in the health sector. While physicians who double as lecturers and consultants earn over N2.6 million monthly, non-physician professionals are capped at under N700,000. According to the ACPN, this financial disparity is exacerbated by deliberate efforts to deny qualified professionals in other fields the right to attain consultant status; an issue the association believes is part of a broader pattern of institutional exclusion.

The ACPN also criticized the state of management in federal health institutions, citing widespread electricity outages in over 70 hospitals earlier in 2025. It blamed ineffective leadership for these failures and called for the reintroduction of professional hospital administrators, as was the practice before 1995, to restore operational efficiency.

Highlighting the victimization of pharmacists, the group pointed to a recent incident at the Specialist Hospital, Irua, where a senior pharmacist was allegedly punished for offering professional advice that contradicted the preferences of the hospital’s physician CEO. The ACPN said that when disputes like these arise, the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) often sends investigation panels dominated by doctors, raising concerns about fairness and impartiality.

The association further criticized the recent rollout of a new drug procurement initiative, MEDIPOOL, alleging that it was launched without consulting key stakeholders in the pharmaceutical sector. It called for the establishment of a Federal Drug Management Agency that adheres to the National Drug Distribution Guidelines (NDDG) of 2015 and ensures transparency and inclusiveness.

Reiterating its appeal to the President, ACPN chair urged him to resist pressure from medical elites and end what it described as a cycle of favoritism that is discouraging professionals across other disciplines. The association warned that continued marginalization of non-physician health professionals would have long-term negative consequences for the country’s health system and broader national development.

Echoing these concerns, Anthony Oyawole, a member of the ACPN Lagos Board of Trustees, expressed deep reservations about the expanding influence of physicians in sectors traditionally led by diverse professionals. He accused physicians of pursuing a long-standing agenda of monopolizing the health sector through both legal and political means.

Oyawole pointed to past legal actions by MDCAN seeking to prevent the National Assembly from legislating on non-physician professions and attempting to block the Head of Service of the Federation from issuing career frameworks for other healthcare workers.

He also highlighted how physicians opposed a clause in the long-delayed National Health Act (NHAct) that would have established a unified regulatory system for all health professions, a resistance he claims significantly delayed the law’s passage.

Oyawole further criticized ongoing efforts to establish physician-centric medical universities, arguing that such institutions undermine the autonomy of the NUC and violate academic standards by appointing physicians without PhDs to leadership roles and urged the President to take decisive action to dismantle these entrenched inequities and restore balance in federal appointments and policymaking.