Over 1,500 staff members working with the Environmental Health Council of Nigeria (EHCON) have gone without salaries for nearly two years following a major funding cut by the Federal Government.
The salary freeze stems from a federal directive aimed at reducing national expenditure by withdrawing financial support from certain government agencies. As a result, EHCON, Nigeria’s main agency responsible for regulating environmental health practices, has been unable to meet its personnel and overhead costs since early 2024.
EHCON, created under the Environmental Health Officers Act of 2002, is responsible for enforcing standards in hygiene, sanitation, and disease prevention.
Their officers played a key role during Nigeria’s battle with the 2014 Ebola outbreak and were central to COVID-19 response efforts in 2020, managing entry points at airports, seaports, and borders, and conducting decontamination operations across the country.
The financial crisis facing EHCON traces back to a 2023 directive from the Budget Office of the Federation. In a memo signed by then-Director General Ben Akabueze, professional bodies and regulatory councils were informed that they would need to become fully self-funded starting from December 2026.
However, reports now show that many agencies, including EHCON, stopped receiving government funding as early as December 2024.
Out of about 30 affected agencies, only 13 under the Ministry of Health were later granted exemptions after a successful appeal by former Minister of State for Health, Tunji Alausa. These agencies reportedly received over N6 billion for salaries. EHCON, which falls under the Ministry of Environment, did not make that list.
A letter dated April 30, 2025, from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, appealed to President Bola Tinubu to revisit EHCON’s situation.
In the letter, Akume wrote:
“With utmost regards, I write to intimate Your Excellency on the correspondence from the Federal Ministry of Environment and Sanitation with Ref. NO. FMENV/PRS/757/TI/05, dated 16th April 2025, on the funding of certain professional bodies/councils in the health sector, including the Environmental Health Council of Nigeria, which was discontinued following a decision by the Presidential Committee on Salaries (copy attached for ease of reference).
“Kindly recall Your Excellency, that Federal Executive Council had, at its EC(2024) 1st Meeting, Conclusions 12, AOB II, pg 17 of Wednesday 17 January 2024, noted the appeal for continued funding of regulatory agencies including the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, the Medical Laboratory Science Council, and the Nursing & Midwifery Council of Nigeria, among others through government budgetary allocations, in consideration of the critical role of these regulatory bodies in safeguarding the public from unprofessional practices and supporting the healthcare delivery system.
“It was also confirmed that funds had been earmarked in the 2024 Appropriation Act for the continued funding of health sector regulatory agencies.
“However, the EHCON, which is under the environmental sector, was excluded and therefore received zero allocation in the 2024 budget under the Federal Ministry of Environment, where the agency is domiciled.
“This has led to severe financial hardship for the agency and its staff due to the non-payment of salaries and operational expenses from January to December 2024.”
In the memo, the SGF appealed to Tinubu to consider and approve the funding of the EHCON, given that their activities included the well-being of society.
“In the light of the foregoing, Your Excellency may consider and approve the funding of the EHCON since their activities also include regulation of environmental health practitioners, who are responsible for preventive health, sanitary and well-being of society to address the Ministry of Environment’s concerns regarding EHCON’s exclusion from the funding provision,” the letter read.
