Nigeria’s healthcare system is approaching a breaking point, experts warned Thursday, as the mass migration of doctors and nurses — popularly known as “Japa” — drains hospitals of essential personnel.
The alarm was raised during the Olikoye Ransome-Kuti Memorial Lecture at Obafemi Awolowo University, where stakeholders lamented the government’s “tokenistic” response to a crisis decades in the making.
Impact Snapshot
- Doctor–patient ratio now exceeds 1:5,000, up from 1:2,500 in 2015.
- Average annual medical migration surge: 12% YoY since 2020.
- ₦38bn in unpaid allowances cited as immediate strike trigger.
Keynote speaker Prof. Kayode Ijadunola said Nigeria now has 1.83 skilled health workers per 1,000 citizens, far below the World Health Organisation benchmark of 4.45.
“Out of 55,000 licensed doctors, 17,000 have left. Any country that trivialises this exodus is courting a public-health collapse,” he warned.
The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has issued a 30-day ultimatum — expiring November 1 — to protest ₦38 billion in unpaid allowances.
“Ward rounds have become handovers,” said NARD president Dr Muhammad Suleiman, confirming that strike mobilisation has begun.
The Bleeding Pulse of Public Health
Analysts say the migration crisis threatens Nigeria’s health security and exposes decades of neglect since the Babangida-era “brain drain” report of 1988.
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