By Julian Osamoto
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, NCDC, says clear and modern public health laws are essential to strengthening Nigeria’s ability to prevent, detect and respond to health emergencies at the state level.
NCDC Director-General, Dr Jide Idris, represented by the agency’s Deputy Director and Public Health Emergency Management Specialist, Dr Evaristus Aniaku, made the statement in Abuja at the launch of the Nigeria Subnational Public Health Legal Reform Guide, organised by Resolve to Save Lives
Idris said recent public health emergencies had shown that effective response required more than strong institutions, skilled personnel and adequate resources.
He said unclear mandates, legal powers and coordination arrangements could delay critical decisions and worsen the impact of emergencies on lives, livelihoods and national security.
The NCDC DG said states have significant constitutional, legislative and operational responsibilities for protecting public health, making strong subnational systems critical to national health security.
According to him, the guide would help states modernise their public health laws to address emerging and re-emerging diseases, technological developments and evolving institutions, as well as meet Nigeria’s obligations under the International Health Regulations 2005.
“Legal reform should go beyond enacting new laws to creating an enabling environment for effective public health action, while sustainable financing remained a major challenge to health security at the state level”.
He added that emergency operations centres, surveillance systems, trained response personnel and incident management structures required clear legal frameworks to function effectively.
Interim Country Director of Resolve to Save Lives, Dr Jide Idris, said the reform process began with a national legal assessment in 2019, which identified gaps in Nigeria’s public health laws and the need for deeper assessments across the states.
He explained that the guide would provide states with a practical pathway from legal assessment to reform and implementation.
Idris urged states to ensure that the guide did not become another publication on a shelf, but translated into stronger laws, accountable institutions and improved public health outcomes.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Healthcare Services, Hon Amos Magaji, urged health practitioners to take a more active role in proposing laws and amendments to address challenges in Nigeria’s public health system.
Magaji, represented by Hon Bassey Akiba, member representing Calabar federal costituency said health practitioners who encounter challenges in public health delivery could work with lawmakers to develop appropriate legislation.
NCDC Legal Adviser to Resolve to Save Lives, Bar Safiya Musa, while presenting the overview of the subnational public health legal reform framework, said many states still rely on public health laws enacted in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, before electronic surveillance, emergency operations centres and other modern systems became central to outbreak response.
She noted that outdated laws could affect disease surveillance, outbreak detection, sample collection, environmental health, food safety and waste management.
Musa said Nigeria’s Joint External Evaluation under the International Health Regulations improved the country’s legal instruments score from Level One in 2017 to Level Two in 2023, but significant gaps remained at the subnational level.
According to her, the guide provides states with tools to assess existing laws, identify gaps and develop appropriate legal instruments, including a model public health security bill and legal mapping tool.
Musa cautioned states against assuming that every public health challenge required a new law, saying regulations, guidelines, executive orders or directives could sometimes address gaps where existing legal authority was sufficient.
She said legal preparedness remains a critical part of public health preparedness because authorities could not wait for an emergency before determining who had the legal power to act.
Musa urged states to adapt the framework to their existing laws, institutions, priorities and specific circumstances to build stronger and more resilient systems for protecting communities from epidemics and other public health emergencies.
