Radiographers commend President Tinubu for the payment of 2024 arrears and request additional funding to address the issue of quackery.

The Radiographers Registration Board of Nigeria has commended President Tinubu for restoring funding and paying the 2004 salary arrears of the Board and some other regulatory agencies. 

The Registrar of the Board, Prof Mark  OKEJI  who stated this during a visit by the Minister of State Health and Social Welfare, Dr Isiaq Adekunle Salako to the Board in Abuja, however, called for increased appropriation to procure more vehicles for enforcement activities against Quackery in the profession. 

According to o Prof Okeji, who also chairs the committee of Registrars of 13 MDAs under the Ministry of Health the Board currently has four Monitoring and enforcement vehicles, which are grossly inadequate and cover the entire country.

“The vehicles are currently stationed in Abuja,  Lagos, Kano, and Enugu, leaving the other offices in Sokoto, Maiduguri, Port Harcourt, Calabar,  Awka, and Ilesha without official Vehicles
Quackery leads to misdiagnosis and uncontrolled exposure of the citizens to radiation. This same radiation used for diagnosis and treatment in medicine is a predisposing factor for cancer not properly regulated. Monitoring and enforcement activities are capital intensive and require good appropriation to sustain them” 

On the dearth of Radiographers, occasioned by Japa syndrome, the Registrar stated that the Board doubled its quoter to the universities to balance the number of professionals in the country.

In addition to efforts to address the shortage of radiographers, the Board attracted N7M naira for the tuition-free training of therapy Radiographers in the country. 

“There are 4632 radiographers in our register out of which 2810 had their annual licence in 2024. We currently have a lot of radiographers leaving Nigeria for other countries (Japan syndrome). However, we have doubled our quota to the universities to balance the manpower needs of our country. We have also encouraged the establishment of more B.Sc. programs in Nigerian universities since I assumed office. We have 40 universities offering radiography now from the initial 9 when I took over. Most are at various stages and will start graduation soon”

Other milestones of the record according to the registrar include Relocation to a 28-room office space at the  Federal Secretariat from a 7-room rented apartment, thereby saving cost for the Government.

Others are the Purchase of seven  utility vehicles, 
Renovation of Zonal offices in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Ilesha, Maiduguri, Calabar, Awka, Enugu, Sokoto Kano and 
Construction of office and training complex in Enugu for South East and South-South.

Responding, the Minister of State Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako, appreciated the Radiographers ‘ contributions to the health sector but urged them to be more proactive in fighting quackery. 

“I want you  to be more innovative in ensuring that only qualified people practice as radiographers and only facilities that are properly registered provide such services in the country”

” I challenge you as a regulatory body to fight quackery in the Radiography profession in line with the priority of the Federal Government to stamp out quackery in the federal  ministries” 

Dr Salako urged them to view the visit as a call to improve service delivery and justify President Tinubu’s confidence in reinstating the board’s funding.

Radiography is the art of science that applies various forms of Radiation energies on human beings to promote health, treat diseases such as cancer, and produce various diagnostic images including X-ray, Ultrasound,  and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Maureen