.Urges Urgent Legislative Action
By Our Reporter
Former President, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), has sounded a strong alarm over what he described as a deepening crisis of medical negligence in Nigeria, urging state legislatures across the country to urgently amend health laws, strengthen regulation and protect patients’ rights before more lives are lost.
Agbakoba made the call in a petition dated February 4, 2026 and addressed to the Chairman of the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria, Rt. Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin, warning that Nigeria’s healthcare system had become dangerously under-regulated, allowing negligence to flourish unchecked in both public and private facilities.
The senior advocate and leading human rights activist, anchored his call on the recent death of Nkanu Nnamdi, one of the twin sons of acclaimed writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, following what was described as a routine medical procedure in a Lagos hospital.
According to him, the tragedy has once again exposed "dangerous inadequacies" in Nigeria’s healthcare regulatory framework, particularly in the handling of high-risk anaesthetics and patient monitoring.
Agbakoba, while drawing from over two decades of experience in medical malpractice litigation, during which he said he had handled more than 50 cases nationwide, posited that the incident reflected a broader systemic failure rather than an isolated error.
The former NBA president listed preventable deaths from routine procedures, weak oversight, alleged manipulation of medical records and a culture of impunity as defining features of the current healthcare environment, even as he further criticised what he described as the collapse of independent supervision in state health systems, sadly noting that roles once performed by Chief Medical Officers and Health Inspectors had either disappeared or weakened.
In their place, he said, excessive powers had been concentrated in State Ministries of Health, where policy formulation and regulatory enforcement were improperly merged.
He warned that this structural flaw had resulted in the absence of routine facility inspections, weak enforcement of professional standards, lack of independent investigative mechanisms, with no transparent public reporting on patient safety incidents.
Agbakoba said the way to reverse this trend was for the State Houses of Assembly to enact comprehensive Clinical Negligence and Patient Safety laws that clearly define standards of care, patient rights and accountability pathways.
He, therefore, advocated the creation of independent State Healthcare Quality and Safety Commissions, separate from Ministries of Health, with powers to license, inspect, investigate and sanction health facilities.
The legal expert also proposed the establishment of clinical negligence resolution schemes to ensure timely compensation for victims without prolonged litigation, alongside mandatory professional indemnity insurance for healthcare practitioners and facilities.
On patients’ rights, Agbakoba urged lawmakers to guarantee informed consent, access to medical records, independent complaint mechanisms and strict penalties for falsification or destruction of medical documents.
Besides, Agbakoba raised concerns about chronic underfunding of the health sector, reminding lawmakers of the country’s commitment under the 2001 Abuja Declaration to allocate at least 15 percent of annual budgets to healthcare.
He proposed phased legislative targets to reach the benchmark and suggested dedicated health trust funds supported by special taxes on alcohol, tobacco and luxury goods.
Speaking further, Agbakoba also called for stronger coordination between Federal federal and state regulators, noting that gaps between professional discipline at the Federal level and facility regulation by states had allowed negligent practitioners to evade accountability.
“The tragedy involving the Adichie-Esege family starkly illustrates how our healthcare regulatory system continues to fail patients,” he said, warning that legislative delay and weak oversight cost lives daily.
He, however, stressed that states possessed both the constitutional authority and moral obligation to drive healthcare reform, insisting that decisive legislative action could transform Nigeria’s health sector from one marked by preventable tragedies into a system anchored on safety, transparency and respect for human life.
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