Dietitians caution NASS against proposed Nutritionists Registration Council

The Institute for Dietetics in Nigeria (IDN) has cautioned the National Assembly against the proposed establishment of the Nutritionists Registration Council of Nigeria, warning that the bill could legitimise quackery in nutrition management and compromise patient safety.

The call comes amid the scheduled public hearing on the controversial bill this week at the National Assembly.

The institute urged President Bola Tinubu to intervene urgently and ensure that the already passed Dietitians Council of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill was assented to, arguing that a unified regulatory framework was necessary to protect the public and uphold professional standards.

The IDN stated its opposition to the proposed “Bill for an Act to Establish the Nutritionists Registration Council of Nigeria and for Related Matters” during a news conference jointly addressed by its National President, Tajudeen Olutope Ahmed, and National Secretary, Aliyu Hassan, at the National Assembly in Abuja on Monday.

The institute said it supported the statutory regulation of qualified nutrition and dietetics professionals but warned that HB 2659, reportedly promoted with the support of the Nutrition Society of Nigeria (NSN), would create a parallel regulatory body with powers overlapping those provided under HB 515.

The IDN warned thus: “Establishing two regulatory councils with competing authority over nutrition and dietetics education, accreditation, registration, clinical practice and professional discipline would create confusion, institutional conflict and avoidable expenditure.

“It would also weaken, rather than strengthen, the protection available to patients and the Nigerian public.

“Nigeria must not enact a law that weakens established competency standards or opens the door for inadequately trained persons to undertake sensitive nutrition and clinical dietetic responsibilities.”

It explained that qualified dietitians undertake nutritional assessments, provide medical nutrition therapy and manage patients with conditions such as diabetes, kidney disease, cancer and severe malnutrition, noting that mistakes in prescribing therapeutic diets and managing specialised nutritional support could result in serious complications, permanent disability or death.

The institute also cautioned against treating membership of a multidisciplinary scientific society as proof of professional qualification to practise nutrition or dietetics.

According to IDN, NSN accommodates professionals from fields including biochemistry, agriculture, food science, physiology, medicine, pharmacy and public health. While admitting that their contributions to nutrition research and policy are valuable, the institute maintained that such backgrounds do not automatically confer the clinical competencies required to assess patients or provide medical nutrition therapy.

“Multidisciplinary cooperation must not be confused with professional equivalence,” IDN said, stressing that membership of a scientific society could not replace the prescribed professional education, supervised clinical training and competency assessment.

The institute argued that HB 515 already provided a framework for regulating professional education, registration, ethical standards, public health nutrition, research and clinical dietetic practice. It warned that a second council could create conflicting accreditation requirements for universities, polytechnics and colleges of health sciences and technology, particularly because many Nigerian institutions offer integrated Nutrition and Dietetics programmes.

It added that overlapping regulatory responsibilities could lead to duplicated accreditation exercises, additional fees and uncertainty over professional qualifications, leaving healthcare institutions, employers and patients unclear about the respective roles of nutritionists and dietitians.

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IDN called for the discontinuation of further consideration of HB 2659 in its present form and urged the National Assembly to prioritise the passage of HB 515 as the appropriate legislative framework for regulating nutrition and dietetics practice in Nigeria.

It warned that further delays in establishing a coherent regulatory framework could deepen uncertainty over professional qualifications and clinical responsibilities, insisting that Nigeria could not afford to leave the regulation of a profession directly linked to public health and patient safety unresolved.

IDN further called for clear definitions of protected professional titles, entry qualifications and scopes of practice, with clinical responsibilities reserved for practitioners who possess the requisite education, supervised training and professional competence.