The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate, says that over 16,000 Nigerian doctors have left the country in the last five to seven years to seek greener pastures in other countries.
According to Pate, the country’s doctor-to-population ratio is now 3.9 per 10,000, and the average cost of educating a single doctor is more than $21,000.
He was bemoaning the fact that the country’s healthcare workforce has become smaller as a result of the departure of nurses and midwives.
The minister made this revelation on Tuesday at the Association of Medical Councils of Africa’s seventh annual capacity development workshop in Abuja, which had as its topic “Integrated healthcare regulation and leadership in building resilient health systems.”
He claims that more and more of Nigeria’s skilled medical professionals choose to go abroad due to things like better pay, better working circumstances, more advanced training, and better research environments abroad.
He said that although the migration of medical experts from underdeveloped nations is not new, it has recently escalated.
“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. The doctor-to-population ratio now stands at around 3.9 per 10,000—well below the suggested global minimum.
“But this trend is not just about people leaving. It represents a fiscal loss. 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.”
He, however, emphasised that the phenomenon offers an opportunity to rethink and reshape the policies, to manage the valuable health workforce in ways that benefit our countries first and foremost.
“In Nigeria, guided by the vision of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who African Heads of State appointed as the AU’s Continental Champion for Human Resources for Health and Community Health Delivery, we are pursuing a new direction. His vision is for Nigeria to become a prosperous, people-oriented country that contributes to a peaceful and thriving continent. Not a standalone Nigeria, but a Nigeria that is interlinked with all our neighbours and sister countries. Under the Renewed Hope Agenda, and within the framework of the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, we have embraced a new path—combining strategic realism with visionary ambition.
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“The National Policy on Health Workforce Migration is a cornerstone of this path. It is designed to address health workforce migration with dignity—dignity for health workers, for the country, and for the profession. It is data-driven and evidence-guided and signals a clear direction. This is not a restrictive policy, nor is it one born out of resignation. We understand that the global health workforce shortage is at 18 million, and countries in the Global North face their human resource crises due to demographics and other factors. But 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.
“The objectives are clear – To retain and motivate health workers currently serving in Nigeria—thousands of whom work under difficult conditions; to establish ethical norms and explore bilateral frameworks for recruitment, aiming to correct global asymmetries; to expand training capacity—not only for domestic needs, but to contribute to global workforce needs, to enable structured reintegration for the thousands of Nigerian professionals abroad; and to strengthen governance, improve regulatory coordination, and build real-time data systems.”
He urged Africa to lead in forging a new global compact on health workforce mobility—anchored in pan-African training and accreditation standards; shared planning tools, evidence, and data; continental negotiating platforms with destination countries; and sustained investments in the people who care for our people.
The President of AMCOA, Prof Joel Okullo, stressed the importance of collaboration among African countries to tackle healthcare challenges and improve regulation and leadership across the continent.
He expressed the belief that the outcome of the workshop would produce actionable strategies to improve healthcare services across Africa.
“This year’s theme highlights our commitment to tackling the diverse array of challenges within the health regulatory landscape. It seeks to empower AMCOA members and associate members with the wisdom and skills needed for informed strategic and operational decisions in the coming year.
“In this intricate regulatory tapestry, our discussions will illuminate strategies and insights that will bolster regulators’ capabilities. Our focus will revolve around managing health workforce mobility, improving credentialing and information data management systems.
“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 noted.
In addition to welcoming attendees, Dr. Fatima Kyari, Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, praised the leadership’s alignment with the common objective of patient safety and mentioned that this was Nigeria’s first AMCOA workshop.
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Professor Afolabi Lesi, the MDCN Board Chairperson, emphasised the necessity for healthcare regulators to respect international norms while making adjustments for regional circumstances.
Lesi discussed the difficulties of disjointed professional relationships that impede implementation and jeopardise patient care. Lesi is also the chairman of the workshop’s local organising committee.
“The reality is that while we have committed and clear directions at the level of governance, implementation of actions is bedevilled by the fractioned and fractious relationship among health workers who ought to be working as a team, with the patient (well-being and safety) as the primary focus of all our actions,” he said.
