The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has described the widening disparity in the remuneration of health professionals as unacceptable and vowed to resist any policy that entrenches inequality within the sector.

At a pre-conference briefing ahead of the society’s 2025 yearly national conference (DABO 2025) scheduled to be held in Kano next month, PSN President, Prof. Ayuba Tanko, said such discrimination in pay structure could breed resentment, low morale, and disharmony in the health sector.

He recalled that before 1991, pharmacists and physicians were placed on the same salary scale, but the introduction of “relativity” later gave doctors a higher starting grade, creating the foundation for the current disparity.

Tanko alleged that the latest proposal before the government seeks to introduce what he called a “relativity within relativity,” which would further widen the pay gap between physicians and other health professionals.

“If this is allowed, a physician starting at Grade Level 13 after youth service could earn 1.2 times more than other workers on the same grade, despite having no additional experience,” he said.

“At the terminal level, this could increase to 1.5 times, as allowances are tied to basic salaries.

This contradicts every known remuneration standard, whether in the public or private sector, where employees on the same grade level earn the same emoluments.”

Tanko further alleged that physicians have consistently influenced salary adjustments in their favour because “they often call the shots at the government level and get whatever they demand, sometimes by threatening industrial action.”

He maintained that such an imbalance was unfair and unsustainable, warning that if it continues, “it would make it meaningless for anyone to study any other health-related course apart from medicine.”

The PSN president stressed that the existing Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the Federal Government stipulates that wages must be parity-based rather than relativity-based, urging the government to respect that understanding.

“The PSN and the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) will resist any attempt to entrench this immoral and unlawful policy. The Federal Government should engage labour and legal experts to help design equitable salary structures that align with employment norms and global standards,” Tanko stated.

Speaking on the forthcoming conference, he described it as a celebration of the achievements of Nigerian pharmacists, noting that the profession continues to expand its impact in healthcare and scientific innovation.

“Our pharmacists are growing in leaps and bounds and can hold their own anywhere in the world,” he said.