• Another bill sets 15-minute emergency response deadline, prescribes sanctions for hospitals

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Senate yesterday advanced two major legislative initiatives aimed at addressing critical challenges confronting Nigeria, with a proposed agricultural revolution bill seeking to transform food production and another legislation prescribing enforceable emergency treatment standards for public and private hospitals.

While the agricultural reform bill, sponsored by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Jibrin Barau, scaled second reading, a separate proposed amendment to the National Health Act, 2014, sponsored by Senator Abdulaziz Musa Yar’adua, seeks to introduce strict timelines for emergency medical attention and sanctions for healthcare providers that violate the prescribed standards.

The two legislative initiatives underscore the Senate’s efforts to deploy legislation to tackle food insecurity, declining agricultural productivity, inadequate emergency healthcare delivery and other challenges affecting the welfare of Nigerians.

Leading debate on his agricultural reform bill during plenary presided over by the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, Barau said Nigeria needed a fundamental transformation of its agricultural sector to restore its productive capacity and reposition it as a major driver of economic development.

The proposed legislation, titled, ‘A Bill for an Act to Provide a Comprehensive Legal Framework for the Transformation and Modernisation of Agriculture in Nigeria, Promote Food Security, Agricultural Productivity, Mechanisation, Irrigation, Agricultural Financing, Agro-industrialisation, Rural Development and Climate-Resilient Farming, seeks to provide a comprehensive statutory foundation for modernising the sector.

Barau recalled the country’s glorious agricultural past, when agricultural production supplied essential raw materials to industries and contributed significantly to economic growth, lamenting that the collapse of those production systems had weakened the sector.

He said the bill was designed to review existing agricultural practices, introduce necessary reforms and establish a new direction capable of stimulating productivity and unlocking the sector’s enormous potential.

Describing the administration of President Bola Tinubu as reform-oriented, the Deputy Senate President said the proposed legislation was intended to complement the federal government’s ongoing economic reforms.

He, however, stressed that national development should not be left to the President alone, insisting that the legislature and other stakeholders had important responsibilities in supporting the reform process.

“This is a reforming government. The government is making changes and introducing reforms across different sectors. I acknowledge that the President is doing well in pursuing reforms in various aspects of our national life.

“However, we cannot leave everything to the President alone. Government is a collaborative undertaking, and we all have a responsibility to complement what the President is doing.

“That is why I have introduced this bill. A lot of thought and effort have gone into its preparation. The objective is to examine the agricultural sector, introduce the necessary changes and bring about a revolution in the sector,” he said.

Explaining the scope of the proposed transformation, Barau said Nigeria needed to abandon its existing agricultural trajectory and embrace fundamental changes in the way farming and agricultural production were organised.

“What does that mean? It means bringing about a fundamental and far-reaching transformation in the way we approach agriculture. We need to change the existing trajectory.

“As we proceed with consideration of this bill, I expect it to provoke conversations and debate. People will bring forward their views and expertise,” he added.

The Senate Chief Whip, Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno, seconded the bill, describing it as an important legislative intervention that would provide the necessary legal framework for revolutionising agriculture and diversifying the economy.

Other lawmakers who supported the proposal included Senators Babangida Hussaini (Jigawa North-West), Anthony Okorie Ani (Ebonyi South) and Adeniyi Adegbonmire (Ondo Central).

Ani, a professor of Agricultural Extension, and the other contributors commended Barau for the initiative, noting that the proposed legislation addressed several critical areas requiring urgent attention in the agricultural sector.

Following the debate, Akpabio referred the bill to the Senate Committees on Agricultural Production Services and Rural Development, and Agricultural Colleges and Institutions, for further legislative scrutiny.

He directed the committees to report back within four weeks.

In a related legislative initiative, the proposed amendment to the National Health Act, 2014, sponsored by Yar’adua, seeks to establish mandatory emergency treatment standards and referral protocols for healthcare facilities across the country.

The bill, titled A Bill for an Act to Amend the National Health Act, 2014 to Provide for Emergency Medical Treatment Standards and Referral Protocols in Healthcare Facilities and for Related Matters, seeks to eliminate delays and arbitrary refusal of emergency medical attention.

Under its provisions, healthcare providers, health workers and healthcare establishments would be prohibited from refusing emergency medical treatment to anyone for any reason whatsoever.

It also proposes that all healthcare workers involved in emergency medical services undergo specialised training and obtain certification as a condition for participating in the delivery of such services.

The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria and the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, would jointly develop and maintain a standardised national emergency care curriculum, with mandatory training and certification at intervals not exceeding 18 months.

A significant provision of the proposed amendment requires all licenced public and private healthcare facilities to commence triage and initial assessment of emergency patients within 15 minutes of their arrival.

Where a licenced medical doctor is unavailable, a trained and certified nurse may conduct the initial assessment.

The legislation further proposes that hospitals commence basic stabilisation measures, including oxygen therapy, intravenous fluids, pain relief and preliminary diagnostic procedures, within 30 minutes of a patient’s arrival.

It also requires immediate life-saving interventions, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation, airway management and bleeding control, once a life-threatening condition is identified.

For patients requiring admission, the bill provides that a hospital bed should be assigned within two hours of arrival, provided bed space is available.

Where a facility lacks the capacity to admit an emergency patient, it would be required to commence resuscitation and stabilisation immediately and initiate the referral process within two hours of arrival or as soon as the patient is clinically assessed and considered stable for transfer, whichever comes first.

The proposed legislation further stipulates that the transfer process should be completed within three hours of arrival, except where external circumstances, including transportation difficulties, insecurity or natural conditions, prevent compliance.

To prevent avoidable delays, hospitals would also be required to commence ambulance dispatch or secure alternative patient transportation within 30 minutes of communicating a decision to refer the patient.

The bill, however, provides protection for healthcare practitioners who document their inability to meet the prescribed requirements because of inadequate resources, provided they comply with the referral protocol and report the circumstances to hospital management or the appropriate authority.

It proposes a fine not exceeding N300,000, imprisonment for up to six months, or both, for individuals or healthcare facilities found guilty of violating its provisions.

The proposed amendment also defines emergency patients, stabilisation, referral and triage to establish clear operational standards for the delivery of emergency medical services.

The two legislative initiatives come amid persistent concerns over food insecurity, rising food costs, inadequate agricultural productivity and the challenges confronting Nigeria’s healthcare delivery system.

While the agricultural bill seeks to address structural weaknesses in food production and unlock the economic potential of agriculture, the proposed health legislation focuses on strengthening emergency response, improving referral arrangements and ensuring that patients receive timely medical attention.

Together, the proposals reflect the legislature’s expanding intervention in two sectors with direct implications for national development and the everyday welfare of Nigerians.