True Sustainability In Health Demands Justice

Nigeria’s healthcare sector is not merely a public service concern, it is a test of the country’s commitment to sustainable development and corporate social responsibility.

The ongoing turmoil, despite recent policy shifts, underscores the urgent need for government and private sector stakeholders to embed equity, dignity, and access into their sustainability strategies.

The latest threat of a nationwide strike by the Nigeria Union of Allied Health Professionals over unpaid salary arrears and unresolved wage disparities is not just an industrial issue. It exposes a deeper ethical failure: the neglect of those whose labour sustains the nation’s wellbeing. The exclusion of allied health workers from the recent Consolidated Health Salary Structure adjustments betrays a troubling culture of selective support, undermining any genuine effort toward inclusive governance.

True sustainability in health demands justice. A system where physiotherapists, radiographers, and other non-doctor professionals feel like second-class citizens is structurally flawed and socially irresponsible. The Tinubu administration must go beyond rhetoric to bridge this credibility gap not just to avert strikes, but to rebuild trust and cohesion across the entire health ecosystem. Respecting previously signed agreements is a basic CSR principle, reflecting an institution’s integrity and reliability.

Health professionals are not replaceable cogs; they are human capital assets essential to Nigeria’s development. Their exodus in droves is not just a brain drain, it is a red flag that the ecosystem is broken. The government must start treating retention and staff welfare as strategic sustainability priorities. The silence or inaction of power holders while hospitals remain under-equipped and the primary health care system decays is not just poor leadership, it is environmental and social negligence.

As medical associations across the country continue to issue ultimatums over withheld salaries and institutional disrespect, Nigeria risks an even deeper collapse in healthcare delivery. The low budgetary allocation to the sector barely 5 per cent is a breach of the Abuja Declaration and a glaring contradiction of any supposed commitment to health equity and resilience. Without financial and infrastructural investment in public health, Nigeria cannot attain the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 3 on good health and wellbeing.

The numbers tell a grim story: A life expectancy of 54.6 years, far below the African average; patients struggling in facilities with neither power nor medicine; children and pregnant women left vulnerable to preventable diseases—all while billions are earmarked for elite health privileges. This is not sustainability. This is institutional disparity.

If Nigeria must be taken seriously in its pursuit of inclusive growth, the healthcare crisis must be addressed not as an occasional policy concern but as a central pillar of national CSR responsibility. The government, alongside corporate Nigeria, must invest in health infrastructure, prioritise universal access, ensure fair treatment of all health professionals, and eliminate the systemic neglect that breeds inequality.

A nation that fails to care for its carers cannot claim to be on a sustainable path. Only a deliberate, equity-driven approach to health financing, labour relations, and infrastructure development can pave the way for a future where Nigerians truly thrive.

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