The Spinal Cord Injuries Association of Nigeria (SCIAN) has called for the urgent development of a National Rehabilitation Policy following revelations of severe weaknesses in Nigeria’s rehabilitation system uncovered by a recent World Health Organisation (WHO) assessment.
 
The appeal was made yesterday during a press briefing themed: ‘Restoring lives, rebuilding hope: No Spine Left Behind’, held at the SCIAN Development Centre in Lagos, where the association lamented neglect of rehabilitation services for spinal cord injury survivors in the country.
 
Speaking at the briefing, SCIAN Interim National President, Abdulwahab Matepo, explained that rehabilitation is a structured intervention designed to restore function, independence, and overall well-being after injury.

He noted that while Nigeria has some facilities catering for stroke survivors and persons recovering from substance use disorders, there are virtually no dedicated rehabilitation centres for people living with spinal cord injuries.

Matepo recalled that the WHO launched the Rehabilitation 2030 initiative in 2017 to strengthen global access to quality rehabilitation services and integrate them into all levels of healthcare delivery. He added that the organisation later developed the Systematic Assessment of Rehabilitation Situation (STARS) tool to help countries evaluate existing services and identify critical gaps within their health systems.

Building on this, he explained that the deployment of the assessment tool in Nigeria revealed significant shortcomings in the country’s rehabilitation framework. According to him, these findings informed a National Stakeholders’ Validation Meeting, which observed in its communiqué that rehabilitation was not explicitly captured in Nigeria’s national health policies, while leadership and coordination mechanisms in the sector remained weak.

Matepo lamented that Nigeria currently operates without a dedicated National Rehabilitation Policy and described the absence as a major structural gap in the healthcare system. He warned that this deficiency is particularly troubling given the rising cases of road traffic crashes, insurgency, banditry, and other forms of violence that leave many citizens with life-altering injuries requiring long-term care.
 
He stressed that disability can affect anyone at any time, urging the media and other stakeholders to amplify the voices of persons living with spinal cord injuries to ensure they are not excluded from national health reforms and broader development planning.
 
While expressing appreciation that the government had acknowledged the need for rehabilitation by allocating about four hectares of land to SCIAN for the development of a rehabilitation centre, he maintained that more systemic intervention was still required to address existing gaps.