The Association of Radiographers of Nigeria (ARN) has rejected the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill 2026 currently before the National Assembly, describing it as a targeted and calculated existential assault on their profession.
“The bill exposes the blueprint to erase radiography, subjugate professionals, and monopolise diagnostic and therapeutic healthcare,” said Dr Musa Y. Dambele, alongside other officers of the association, while speaking to the media in Kano on Saturday.
He stated that the position of the association is that the bill constitutes a direct violation of Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) regarding the right to a fair hearing, adding that a radiographer cannot receive an impartial adjudication from a board of medical doctors who lack the technical competence to review radiographic protocols.
Dr Dambele emphasised that professional regulation requires peer-informed oversight, not a subordinate disciplinary structure.
“The bill mandates that 70 per cent of practising fees collected be shared with the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA). The ARN position: This reveals the true motive—financial colonisation. If radiographers are forced under the MDCN, their hard-earned fees will be diverted to a professional association (NMA) that has no legal or ethical right to them.
“This is not regulation; it is an institutionalised kickback scheme that compromises regulatory neutrality. The bill retains and seeks to legitimise the continued inclusion of medical doctors (radiologists) on the Radiographers Registration Board of Nigeria (RRBN).”
Dr Dambele, alongside Modu Alhaji Ali, and others, insisted that the bill is a fundamental violation of the doctrine of professional self-regulation, which is the cornerstone of healthcare governance globally.
Radiographers are regulated by the RRBN, while medical doctors are regulated by their own statutory body (MDCN).
Dambele added that there is no reciprocal representation of radiographers on medical or other health regulatory councils. This one-sided arrangement constitutes regulatory capture and professional subordination, which is unacceptable.
“The strategy is clear: destroy the RRBN from the outside through HB 2695, and paralyse it from the inside through HB 2699,” he stated.
The association also expressed concern over the dangerous expansion of ministerial control, noting that the bill vests excessive powers in the Minister of Health to determine the composition of the board and influence its leadership structure, introducing politicisation into a highly technical regulatory system.
“Regulatory bodies are not extensions of political offices. Any attempt to convert them into such undermines their independence and credibility. Illegal erosion of board authority in the appointment of the registrar is of grave concern,” he continued, citing attempts to remove or dilute the statutory authority of the Governing Board in appointing the Registrar/Chief Executive, contrary to existing provisions of the law.
According to him, “Under the current RRBN Act (Cap R1, LFN 2004), the Registrar is appointed by the Board with mandatory professional input. Any provision to the contrary is a clear violation of the established governance structure, effectively reducing the Board to a ceremonial body while transferring operational control elsewhere. This is not only administratively unsound but also legally indefensible.”
Radiographers reject medical bill, allege threat to professional autonomy
