Akwa Ibom Partners with Orixine, NCDC & RTSL to Modernize Public Health Framework

Strong legal foundations are indispensable to effective health security governance. Recognizing the need for modern, coherent, and operational public health laws, Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL), in collaboration with the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Justice, led a comprehensive legal assessment that laid the groundwork for an in-depth legislative review and reform process.

Building on this foundation, from 19–23 January 2026, Orixine Consulting partnered with the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Justice, alongside the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL), to undertake a structured review and redrafting of the State’s public health legal framework. The engagement convened senior legal officers and legislative draftsmen from the Ministry of Justice, including the Permanent Secretary and the Director of Legal Drafting, as well as senior legal advisers from NCDC and RTSL.

The workshop formed part of Akwa Ibom State’s broader efforts to strengthen its public health legal and institutional architecture in alignment with contemporary health security standards and international best practices. A total of ten draft bills and amended laws were reviewed to assess their relevance, internal coherence, and alignment with modern public health functions and regulatory mandates. These included legislative instruments addressing emergency medical services, healthcare facility standards and accreditation, medicines and health supplies management, public health security, health training institutions, health insurance, HIV/AIDS anti-stigmatization, hospital management, and primary healthcare governance.

This process built on an earlier technical assessment led by the NCDC  in partnership with the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Justice, which evaluated the adequacy of existing legal frameworks in supporting effective implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) at the state level. The assessment identified critical legal and institutional gaps, underscoring the need for a coordinated redrafting process to enhance epidemic preparedness, emergency response coordination, regulatory oversight, and overall health security governance.

In his closing remarks, the Director of Legal Drafting noted that the draft instruments remain subject to further institutional review and refinement. He outlined that the bills would proceed through the appropriate government review and approval processes before onward transmission for legislative consideration.

Orixine Consulting is proud to support this reform initiative, which aligns directly with our mission to strengthen public health legal frameworks at national and subnational levels and to advance resilient, law enabled health security systems in Nigeria.