The Federal Government and health stakeholders have begun moves to overhaul Nigeria’s rehabilitation system after a major national assessment exposed severe weaknesses in rehabilitation services across the country.
The resolution followed a National Stakeholders’ Validation Meeting held in Abuja on the implementation of Rehabilitation 2030 through the World Health Organisation’s Systematic Assessment of Rehabilitation Situation and Rehabilitation Maturity Model.
The meeting brought together representatives of government ministries and agencies, academia, development partners, professional bodies and rehabilitation service providers to evaluate the state of rehabilitation services in Nigeria and map out reforms for the sector.
In a communiqué issued on Wednesday and signed by the Rehabilitation Technical Group, stakeholders described rehabilitation as “a critical component of health systems strengthening and an essential pathway towards achieving universal health coverage.”
The communiqué stated that the assessment, conducted in line with the WHO Rehabilitation 2030 Call for Action and the African Regional Rehabilitation Strategy (2025–2035), examined Nigeria’s rehabilitation system across six key health system domains.
The findings revealed widespread systemic weaknesses.
According to the communiqué, “none of the 50 assessed components was performing at an optimal level,” while only two components showed strong performance.
It added that, “ 16 components were moderately developed and required strengthening, while 32 components were operating at a “very low level,” requiring urgent establishment and broad system-wide intervention.”
Stakeholders identified weak governance structures, inadequate financing, poor data systems, workforce shortages, uneven infrastructure distribution and limited accessibility of rehabilitation services as major problems affecting the sector.
They also noted that
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