There is good news for health sector workers across Nigeria, following a landmark decision by the National Council on Establishments (NCE) to formally create two new cadres for paramedical personnel in the nation’s public service.
The resolution was reached at the 48th Meeting of the Council, held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, from Monday, 20th to Thursday, 24th July, 2026, under the chairmanship of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack. The meeting drew Heads of Service from 30 states and the Federal Capital Territory, alongside Permanent Secretaries and senior public service officials from across the country, underscoring the weight and reach of the decisions taken.
Among the resolutions from the gathering was Council’s approval for the creation and inclusion of two new cadres in the Schemes of Service: the Paramedics Assistant Cadre, placed on Salary Grade Levels 04 to 07, and the Paramedics Technician Cadre, placed on Salary Grade Levels 06 to 14. The Council also adopted a Harmonised Entry Point Framework to guide entry into public service cadres going forward.
For thousands of Nigerians whose training and daily work fall within paramedical practice, the significance of this development can hardly be overstated. It formally recognises paramedical work as a distinct career track within the public service, opening the door to structured recruitment, defined progression, and improved remuneration for a workforce that has, for years, operated without a clearly delineated professional pathway. In practical terms, it means new job opportunities, clearer career development, and a long-awaited sense of professional identity for paramedic assistants and technicians nationwide.
The decision did not emerge in isolation. It is equally important to state that the Council noted that a Personnel Audit and Skills Gap Analysis currently underway in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation is designed to assess existing manpower and identify critical skills gaps across the public service, and that its findings would inform future consideration of similar requests for new cadres. Five other requests for new cadres were, in fact, stepped down pending the outcome of that audit, a reminder that the approval for the paramedic cadres was neither automatic nor lightly given.
The resolution also lands squarely within the reform agenda being driven at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare under the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate. Since assuming office in August 2023, Professor Pate, a physician and globally recognised public health leader with a career spanning the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the World Bank and Harvard University, has consistently championed the strengthening of Nigeria’s health workforce as central to the country’s broader health sector renewal. His ministry has repeatedly stressed that closing personnel and competency gaps across primary, secondary and emergency care is essential if Nigeria is to meet its healthcare delivery targets, particularly in underserved communities.
The formal creation of the Paramedic Assistant and Paramedic Technician cadres gives structural backing to that agenda, providing career pathways for a critical layer of the health workforce that has, until now, operated without clear public service recognition, and reinforcing the workforce-strengthening priorities that Professor Pate and the Ministry have placed at the heart of Nigeria’s health reform drive.
This development is unprecedented, coming as it does after years of advocacy by paramedical practitioners for formal recognition within Nigeria’s civil service structure. It deserves to be applauded, not merely as a bureaucratic adjustment, but as a substantive step toward strengthening Nigeria’s healthcare workforce and improving the quality of emergency and frontline medical support available to citizens.
It is worth mentioning the careful consideration and professionalism evident in the choice of who oversees this maiden health policy: Dr Emuren Doubra, who leads the NEMSAS Programme. Dr Emuren Doubra brings on board a vast wealth of expertise, reliability, and integrity. As it is commonly said, a round peg in a round hole.
Commendation must go to the Federal Government, to the leadership of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, and to the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, for what stands as a long-overdue policy reform. As implementation unfolds across federal and state institutions, stakeholders in the health sector will be watching closely to ensure that the promise of this resolution translates into real opportunity for the paramedics who serve on the front lines of Nigeria’s healthcare system.