The growing problem of medical malpractice in Nigeria has prompted human rights campaigner Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, to demand immediate legislative action.
The letter dated February 4, 2026, sent to Adebo Ogundoyin, Chairman of the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria, was written by Agbakoba, who made this request.
He called for comprehensive changes to healthcare regulation at the state level in order to stop the cycle of avoidable deaths caused by medical mistakes.
Existing regulatory frameworks have failed to assure accountability and patient safety, according to the former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), who is worried about what he calls completely avoidable deaths caused by healthcare practitioners’ mistakes.
He used the recent tragic death of Nkanu Nnamdi, a twin son of renowned writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and her husband Ivara Esege, as an example of how Nigeria’s healthcare oversight system is lacking. The death occurred after what was supposedly a routine medical procedure at a private hospital in Lagos.
According to Agbakoba, who has been involved in medical malpractice litigation for over 20 years and claims to have handled over 50 cases across the country, this is a systemic healthcare catastrophe.
Medication errors, poor pre-operative evaluations, monitoring failures, and avoidable deaths from common procedures are the hallmarks of the problem, in his view. Additionally, there are no independent oversight systems in place.
Additionally, he voiced his disapproval of the over-centralization of regulatory power among state ministries of health, the lack of effective accountability mechanisms that ensure negligent practitioners face no penalties for their actions, and the suspected manipulation of medical data to avoid culpability.
The present state health legislation have rendered obsolete or rendered ineffectual older supervisory bodies, such Health Inspectors and Chief Medical Officers, that formerly guaranteed accountability and compliance.
“Nigerian pledged in the 2001 Abuja Declaration to devote at least 15% of yearly expenditures on healthcare, but several states have not lived up to this promise.
Agbakoba proclaimed, “The time to act is now.” He cautioned that avoidable disasters would keep undermining trust in Nigeria’s healthcare system unless immediate changes were made.