Nigeria has lost over $366 million in public funds due to the mass departure of more than 16,000 doctors in the past five to seven years, according to the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Ali Pate.
Prof Pate disclosed this alarming trend on Tuesday during the 7th Annual Capacity Building Workshop of the Association of Medical Councils of Africa (AMCOA), held in Abuja. The theme of the workshop was “Integrated Healthcare Regulation and Leadership in Building Resilient Health Systems.”
He revealed that the cost of training a single doctor in Nigeria now exceeds $21,000, and with thousands of doctors leaving the country, the cumulative financial loss is devastating.
Prof Pate said, “The estimated cost of training one doctor exceeds $21,000—a figure that reflects the magnitude of public financing walking out of our countries. It deeply affects our health systems—leaving many of our rural communities critically underserved.”
According to the minister, the doctor-to-population ratio in Nigeria currently stands at 3.9 per 10,000 people, far below the World Health Organization’s global minimum recommendation. He explained that the migration of healthcare workers, often referred to as “japa,” is not new but has significantly accelerated in recent years.
“In Nigeria alone, over 16,000 doctors are estimated to have left the country in the last five to seven years, with thousands more leaving in just the past few years. Nurses and midwives have also thinned in numbers,” he noted.
Prof Pate cited better economic opportunities, improved working conditions, access to advanced training, and more robust research environments as the main reasons for the mass exodus.
Despite the concerning figures, he stressed that the government is not helpless and is actively pursuing solutions. Under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, he said Nigeria is embracing a new direction to retain and support its health workforce.
Pate said, “We have embraced a new path—combining strategic realism with visionary ambition. The National Policy on Health Workforce Migration is a cornerstone of this path. It is designed to address health workforce migration with dignity—for health workers, for the country, and for the profession.”
The new policy aims to balance the rights of health workers to migrate with the nation’s need to protect its health system. It includes plans to retain and motivate health workers, create ethical recruitment frameworks, expand training capacity, and establish reintegration pathways for professionals who return from abroad.
“Our response is based on stewardship—balancing the rights of health professionals to seek opportunities abroad with our duty to protect the integrity and viability of our national health system,” Pate added.
He urged African countries to lead the way in creating a new global agreement on health workforce mobility. This would include pan-African training and accreditation standards, shared data systems, and stronger negotiating platforms with countries that recruit African health professionals.
Also Read:
- Skin Bleaching Can Delay Wound Healing, Infections – Experts Warn
- Experts Warn – Too Much Exercise Can Lead to Collapse, Death
The President of AMCOA, Prof Joel Okullo, echoed the minister’s concerns and called for deeper cooperation among African nations to tackle the crisis.
“Let us embark on this journey with enthusiasm and a shared sense of purpose. Our collaborative efforts today and over the next few days will lay the groundwork for transformative changes that will resonate across the healthcare landscape of Africa,” he said.
Dr Fatima Kyari, Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), welcomed participants to the workshop and expressed joy that Nigeria was hosting the event for the first time.
Prof Afolabi Lesi, Chairperson of the MDCN Board and head of the Local Organizing Committee, called for improved unity among healthcare professionals. He warned that professional rivalry and poor teamwork were harming patient care and undermining implementation of healthcare policies.
“Implementation of actions is bedeviled by the fractioned and fractious relationship among health workers who ought to be working as a team, with the patient as the primary focus of all our actions,” Prof Lesi explained.
The workshop attracted key stakeholders, including the Minister of State of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Yusuf Sununu, and medical council leaders from across Africa.