A five-year bilateral health partnership valued at approximately $5 billion between Nigeria and the United States has come under public and professional scrutiny following revelations that Ghana rejected a comparable pact over data privacy and national sovereignty concerns, according to single-source reporting by Nigerian newspaper Daily Trust.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed on December 19, 2025, by Nigerian Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate and U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Richard M. Mills Jr., seeks to advance the “America First Global Health Strategy.” The framework involves approximately $2.1 billion in health assistance from the United States and roughly $3 billion in counterpart domestic funding from the Nigerian government.
Ghanaian Rejection Prompts Questions
Renewed attention on the agreement followed remarks by Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama during a September 25 appearance on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. President Mahama disclosed that his cabinet unanimously rejected a proposed U.S. health compact exceeding $100 million designed to replace funding previously channeled through USAID.
Mahama stated that Ghana’s health ministry flagged terms requiring the country to surrender pathogen profiles and medical records, provide domestic counterpart financing, and waive the regulatory authority of its Food and Drugs Authority to inspect incoming medications and medical products. Describing the proposal as unacceptable to national sovereignty, Mahama noted that Ghana’s health minister was instructed to decline the deal.
Specimen Sharing and Termination Clauses
According to documents cited by Daily Trust, the agreement between Nigeria and the U.S. mandates that Nigeria share data on health outcomes and biological specimens of novel and emerging infectious diseases with epidemic or pandemic potential. Under Article 2 of the specimen-sharing agreement, Nigeria must initiate the transfer of specimens and associated data within five days of receiving a request from the U.S. government, or provide sequencing data via public databases.
The pact permits the U.S. government to share specimens with non-governmental U.S. entities to develop diagnostics and countermeasures. In return, the U.S. commits to prioritizing Nigeria for access to resulting medical countermeasures, subject to funding and applicable law, while acknowledging Nigeria’s contributions in scientific publications.
However, medical and legal experts have raised concerns over Article 5, which stipulates that if Nigeria terminates the agreement, the termination “shall NOT affect the use by the U.S. Government of any specimens and related data previously shared under this Agreement.”
Expert and Political Reactions
Medical professionals surveyed by Daily Trust expressed divided views. Former Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) President Professor Innocent Ujah and Dr. Rotimi Adesanya, Director of Medical Services at the Federal College of Education (Technical) in Akoka, noted that routine sharing of health outcome statistics is standard practice in donor-funded programmes to monitor spending and disease trends. Nevertheless, both faulted the post-termination clause, warning that allowing indefinite retention and use of specimens and data creates an unbalanced agreement.
Privacy specialist Dr. Olumide Babalola, founder of the Data Privacy Lawyers Association of Nigeria, warned that creating permanent, linked electronic health databases raises legal issues under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023. Babalola highlighted risks such as function creep, profiling, and secondary data usage beyond emergency responses.
Opposition figure and African Democratic Congress presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar called on the federal government to publish the full agreement text. In a statement by spokesperson Phrank Shaibu, Abubakar questioned the government’s ability to fulfill its $3 billion counterpart funding pledge, referencing disclosures by Prof. Pate that only N36 million had been released from N218 billion appropriated for capital projects at the health ministry’s headquarters in 2025.
The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare did not respond to requests for clarification from Daily Trust. The U.S. Embassy noted in a statement that the MoU reinforces health systems, supports frontline workers, and places specific emphasis on Christian faith-based healthcare facilities serving rural and underserved areas.