The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has urged the National Assembly to drop proposals aimed at creating new health commissions, warning that such moves would only deepen bureaucracy and drain scarce resources.
The association made its position known in a statement signed by its National Chairman, Ambrose Igwekamma Ezeh, and National Secretary, Omokhafe Ashore, following public hearings held at the House of Representatives on 18 November 2025 and at the Senate on 24 November 2025.
ACPN said several groups who appeared before lawmakers pushed for the establishment of a Surrogacy Commission, a National Accreditation and Standards Commission, a Tertiary Health Institutions Commission, and Sickle Cell Research and Therapy Centres in all six geopolitical zones and the FCT. But the association dismissed the proposals as unnecessary and wasteful, insisting the National Health Act 2014 already provides a clear legal framework for all such responsibilities.
According to the group, the National Tertiary Health Institutions Standards Committee, NTHISC, created under the NH-Act, legally oversees standards in tertiary hospitals, accreditation processes, and the regulation of organ procurement and trafficking, making the proposed commissions redundant.
“The attempt to create three commissions from the legal structures established in the NH-Act 2014 is unnecessary. All endeavours about the regulation of organ trafficking and procurement, surrogacy, and the monitoring and regulatory appraisals of standards or accreditation of tertiary hospital facilities are already lawfully vested in the NTHISC,” ACPN stated.
The association added that Nigeria’s challenge is not the absence of regulatory bodies but the failure to empower existing ones. It noted that the NTHISC has long struggled with limited funding and weak oversight, issues it said lawmakers should prioritise instead of pushing for new structures.
“What is missing has been adequate oversight responsibilities by the National Assembly, which ought to insist on providing a robust budget that positions the NTHISC to carry out its statutory responsibilities,” the statement read.
ACPN emphasised that creating more commissions would stretch public funds, complicate administrative processes, and risk overlapping mandates that could weaken healthcare delivery rather than improve it.
