By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The escalating cost of healthcare in Nigeria has reached a critical inflection point, with private hospitals in the Federal Capital Territory now reportedly resorting to security protocols to prevent patients from absconding at night without settling their bills. This stark reality was brought to light on Thursday by former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani.

In a post on his Facebook page, Sani described witnessing the practice firsthand during a visit to a private clinic in Abuja.

“Some Abuja private hospitals have started taking security measures to ensure that patients don’t escape at night without completely settling their bills. That’s the case when I visited one of the private clinics today,” he wrote.

While he refrained from naming the facility or detailing the specific security steps, his observation underscores a deepening national crisis where medical care is rapidly becoming a luxury, trapping families between the desperation for treatment and the burden of debt.

This practice is merely the symptom of a systemic failure where the rising costs of drugs, diagnostic scans, surgery, and hospital admission fees are pushing citizens to the brink. For many, the choice is no longer between private and public care, but between treatment and survival.

While patients suffer, health workers argue that hospitals are also struggling under the weight of economic headwinds. With inflation eroding the naira’s value, forex challenges limiting the import of medical supplies, and the removal of fuel subsidies impacting logistics and energy costs, the operational expenses for healthcare facilities have more than doubled in the last 18 months.

While on the other hand, a health practitioner, Ummee Manson, painted a stark picture of Nigeria’s healthcare burden, citing the ordeal of a fictional mother, Mama Chinedu, who had to sell her earrings and borrow money to raise ₦185,000 for her children’s malaria treatment—a bill that, despite saving the children, left the family skipping meals for weeks.

The practitioner noted that this experience mirrors the reality for millions, as it’s documented that in 2024, out‑of‑pocket spending still accounted for 58.3% of total health expenditure, meaning families directly bear the cost of drugs, tests, and hospital care.

The practitioner further warned that such high financial exposure pushes over one million Nigerians into poverty each year, since a single illness can deplete savings, create crushing debt, or force households to abandon care altogether, locking them in a relentless cycle of worsening health and economic distress.

The statistics paint a grim picture of a broken system. Recently released data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicates that out-of-pocket spending still accounts for over 70% of total health expenditure in Nigeria. With most families lacking any form of health insurance, they are left to pay directly for services, often depleting their life savings in the process.

In response, both the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and various patient advocacy groups are renewing their calls for urgent government intervention. They urge the Federal Government to aggressively expand the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to cover a larger percentage of the population and to regulate the prices of essential medicines to curb exploitation.

For now, however, survival often depends on the kindness of strangers. Many Nigerians are forced to resort to crowdfunding, church donations, and social media appeals to raise funds for life-saving procedures—a precarious lifeline that is not available to everyone.

Health economists and medical professionals warn that without comprehensive reforms, the trend will only worsen, and until structural changes are made, the haunting reality remains: for millions of Nigerians, a hospital bed is a financial gamble, and the price of life is becoming too high to pay.

Kano State Governor, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf, has approved the implementation of a new salary review for Academic and Non-Academic Staff of Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology, Wudil, and Northwest University, Kano.

The new increase in salary was adopted from the Federal Government’s new remuneration package implemented at the Federal Universities in Nigeria.

This was contained in a statement issued by the governor’s spokesman, Sunusi Bature Dawakin Tofa, on Monday.

The approval followed a report and recommendations of a committee constituted by the State Executive Council to examine and review requests by the two state-owned universities for the domestication of the new salary package.

Under the approved arrangement, the new remuneration package will take effect from January 2026, while payment will commence in September 2026.

The salary review will have a total financial implication of ₦391,847,555.24 monthly, amounting to ₦4,702,170,662.88 annually for the two universities.

For Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology, Wudil, the monthly financial implication is ₦228,195,210.83, comprising ₦141,082,223.37 for Academic Staff under the ASUU agreement and ₦87,112,987.46 for Non-Academic Staff under SSANU.

For Northwest University, Kano, the monthly implication is ₦163,652,344.41, comprising ₦112,238,985.30 for Academic Staff and ₦51,413,359.11 for Non-Academic Staff.

The government has approved the inclusion of ₦1,567,390,220.96 in the 2026 Supplementary Budget to cover payments from September to December 2026.

Similarly, arrears covering the period from January to August 2026, amounting to ₦3,134,780,441.92, will be provided for under the 2027 Budget.

The decision, according to the committee’s report, is aimed at ensuring industrial harmony and improving the welfare of staff of the two institutions, in line with the implementation of the new remuneration package in federal universities and other state-owned universities.

Governor Yusuf also approved the consideration of Visitation Panels for the two universities and other tertiary institutions in the state, as provided by relevant laws, to strengthen accountability, administration and effective management of the institutions.

The Governor reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to improving the welfare of workers and strengthening the quality of higher education as part of its broader investment in human capital development.

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The National Association of Nigerian Students has hinted that payment of its proposed annual ₦200 dues may become a requirement for students seeking mobilisation for the National Youth Service Corps scheme.

The NANS National President, Akinteye Babatunde, disclosed this in a Facebook post on Sunday and Monday while discussing the organisation’s finances and plans to change how its dues are collected.

Babatunde had earlier said NANS would work with the NYSC, and that students might need proof of payment of the association’s dues to be mobilised for camp.

He wrote, “We will be working with NYSC and one of the criteria to be mobilised for camp is NANS dues receipt.”

However, in a video posted on Monday, Babatunde explained that the association was considering a system that would allow it to collect its dues directly from students rather than relying on student union governments and institutional managements.

He said the annual dues were only ₦200 per student.

According to him, the proposed system was not intended to place an additional financial burden on students but to ensure that NANS had the resources needed to operate independently and represent students effectively.

He said, “This is not an avenue to stress the students further because the due is as low as 200 Naira per student in a year, 200 Naira one year per student.”

Babatunde said the dues were meant to be distributed among the various structures of NANS, including the zonal level, state structures and affiliated student bodies.

He explained that the organisation had struggled to receive its expected capitation from student union governments in recent years.

He said, “We are considering moving from getting the due to capitation to get it to have a platform where we can get it directly from students.”

The NANS president alleged that about 80 to 90 per cent of student union governments were no longer in control of their dues, claiming that some institutions released only a fraction of the money collected to their student unions.

He said this had weakened NANS financially and affected its ability to intervene in student-related issues.