Animasawun calls for more protection for health workers

By Mustafa Abubakar

The Director of the Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies (CPSS), University of Ilorin, Prof. Gbemisola Animasawun, has called on the Federal Government and other stakeholders to urgently strengthen the protection of healthcare workers and medical facilities across Nigeria amid growing threats from terrorism, banditry and abductions.

Prof. Animasawun made the call while speaking with the UNILORIN Bulletin on Tuesday (September 1, 2026) in his office.

He warned that attacks on healthcare workers and facilities could no longer be treated as isolated security incidents, stressing that insecurity was further weakening Nigeria’s already fragile healthcare system.

According to him, terrorism and other forms of insecurity have found healthcare facilities vulnerable because of existing weaknesses in the system.

“Terrorism did not find Nigerian healthcare vulnerable by chance. It found a system already thin, and it pulled it thinner,” he said.

Prof. Animasawun said attacks on Nigerian healthcare facilities and personnel increased by 42 per cent between 2023 and 2024 and by another 26 per cent between 2024 and 2025.

He disclosed that 91 health workers had been kidnapped since 2023, with 25 still unaccounted for. He identified Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa as the epicentre of the crisis but warned that the threat was spreading beyond the North.

The CPSS Director cited the January 2026 abduction of two doctor brothers in Auchi, Edo State, one of whom was killed before the other was released, as well as the May 2026 abduction of a community health worker and his wife in Kogi State, as evidence that attacks on healthcare personnel were becoming a nationwide concern.

He also referred to the March 16, 2026, triple suicide bombing in Maiduguri, which struck a post office, a market and a hospital gate, killing 23 people in the cluster of attacks.

According to him, five suicide bombings were recorded in Maiduguri during the first four months of 2026 alone, demonstrating the increasingly dangerous environment in which healthcare workers operate.

Prof. Animasawun warned that the impact of insecurity went beyond the immediate deaths and abductions, identifying declining immunisation, the flight of health professionals, erosion of public trust and psychological distress among health workers as major consequences.

He recalled the killing of nine polio vaccinators in Kano in 2013, noting that the incident contributed to a major setback in immunisation efforts and demonstrated how insecurity could undermine public health programmes.

He further noted that shortage of medical personnel in the country made every attack particularly damaging. The presentation puts Nigeria’s physician density at 2.9 doctors per 10,000 population, compared with a World Health Organisation benchmark of 17 per 10,000.

The University don argued that protecting healthcare workers should be treated not only as a humanitarian obligation but also as a national security priority.

He said failure to protect medical services could undermine public confidence in government and weaken efforts to counter terrorism and insurgency.

To address the crisis, Prof. Animasawun called for a four-point action plan, including the negotiation of protected access for clinics and vaccination campaigns in conflict-affected areas, systematic documentation of attacks, increased pressure on government to improve humanitarian access and protection funding, and the establishment of a protection compact for healthcare workers.

He said the proposed protection compact should include rapid alert and evacuation protocols, compensation and insurance, as well as structured psychosocial support for affected health workers.

Prof. Animasawun urged the government, security agencies, healthcare professionals and other stakeholders to move beyond condemning attacks after they occur and take concrete measures to prevent them.

He warned that every unprotected clinic, abducted doctor and abandoned health facility further weakens the country’s ability to provide essential healthcare to its citizens.

According to him, “Terrorism and banditry, from Borno to Edo, have made healthcare a soft target not by accident but by a calculable logic.”

He added that the crisis was also reflected in vaccines that were never administered, doctors who did not return to their workplaces and patients who no longer trusted the healthcare facilities serving their communities.