Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, has revealed that training a single doctor in the country costs over $21,000.
He made this statement at the seventh annual capacity-building workshop of the Association of Medical Councils of Africa in Abuja, highlighting the significant financial loss incurred when healthcare professionals migrate without structured reintegration or ethical recruitment frameworks.
According to Pate, more than 16,000 Nigerian doctors have left the country in the last five to seven years, with nurses and midwives also emigrating in significant numbers. This mass migration has resulted in a dangerously low doctor-to-population ratio of 3.9 per 10,000 people, far below the global minimum.
“We are confronted with a paradox. It represents a fiscal loss, a systemic weakening, and a moral imperative. The cost of training a single doctor exceeds $21,000. The country loses millions of dollars in human capital investment when professionals migrate without structured reintegration or ethical recruitment frameworks,” he said.
To address these challenges, the minister unveiled Nigeria’s National Policy on Health Workforce Migration, focusing on retaining and motivating health workers, promoting ethical recruitment practices, and expanding training capacity.
The policy also seeks to address geographical disparities in workforce distribution, with over 40 per cent of Nigerian doctors concentrated in Lagos and Abuja.
“We cannot force relocation, but we can incentivize it with housing, digital connectivity, and workplace dignity,” Minister Pate emphasized. The policy aims to engage the diaspora, with Nigerian professionals abroad contributing to the country’s health sector.
He cited examples of returned doctors establishing advanced medical facilities in cities like Lagos and Maiduguri.
Pate called for a continental compact on workforce mobility, anchored on shared standards, ethical recruitment, investment in training, and strategic negotiation with destination countries. He said, “This is our moment, not for nostalgia, but for bold reform. From brain drain to brain gain, from loss to system strengthening, Africa must lead.”
In his remarks, Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Hon. Dr Tanko Sununu, stressed the importance of self-reliance and sustainability in healthcare services, encouraging the development of a sustainable model that wouldn’t depend heavily on external support.
