Huge Exodus Of Nurses From Nigeria Between 2017-2022

Over 57,000 nurses migrated abroad from Nigeria between 2017-2022, said Michael Nnachi, the President of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives.

The most common reasons for the migration were low remuneration, bad working conditions, and a crushing workload added Nnachi. He disclosed this in an interview with punchng.com on Sunday.

"The critical reduction in the workforce of health workers is alarming, and I'm afraid that if nothing is done, the challenges will be enormous in the health sector," he added, lamenting that not enough was being done to combat brain drain in the health sector.

"I'm aware that even as the government is trying to address the issue, because they are also touched, efforts being made are at a snail's pace. The nurses are leaving in droves. It is very critical because doctors and nurses are critical to any health facility. Looking at the rate they are leaving, the available workforce is dropping, and it is creating a huge workload on the remaining workforce, particularly the nurses, and those who are available are stressed," said Nnachi.

The nurses are migrating to places such as the UK, Canada, or Saudi Arabia.

"According to the WHO, we have what we call a critical situation or critical state, so there is meant to be one nurse for every four patients. In some situations, you may have one nurse to five patients. Under normal conditions, one may have one nurse for eight or 10 patients," he said, adding that there is only one nurse per 1,660 patients.

This is not the first time a public official from Nigeria has spoken about the brain drain in the nursing community. In August this year, Minister of State for Health, Joseph Ekumankama, bemoaned the exodus of health professionals from the country.

"The greatest challenge facing the sector presently is the doctors and nurses leaving the country, but I want to rather encourage them to stay back, seeing the effort the government is putting in," said Ekumankama, while addressing journalists at the Federal Medical Centre, Ebute Meta, Lagos.

"We can attest to it that the government in the last three years has released 100 percent of the budget for the health sector," Ekumankama stressed.