New Nigerian President Will Have To Act On Growing Brain Drain

Doctors are going to be a rare species in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and also the largest economy. Before, it used to be young doctors seeking green pastures elsewhere, but now, the consultants who trained them have started to desert the country.

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) on Jan. 11 pressed the panic button, asking the federal and all the provincial governments to declare a state of emergency to reverse the brain drain among medical professionals.

Addressing a poll rally in southwestern Lagos state, the chairman of NMA's state unit, Dr. Benjamin Olowojebutu, said more than 1,800 healthcare workers left the country in December last year alone.

"There is a dearth of doctors in Nigeria, especially in Lagos State. Some places don't have specialties anymore because the specialists have left the country at this time," Dr. Olowojebutu observed.

Dr. Olowojebutu warned that the medical profession in the country is facing "extinction" if the brain drain lingers on for a more extended period.

Healthcare professionals from Lagos State are leaving for abroad due to poor pay. Health workers' hazard allowance of N5,000 was fixed more than 30 years ago and it is still continuing.

Poor pay, difficulty in gaining employment, the poor state of the economy; high cost of living; human rights violations, and insecurity, among others, are the reasons why medical professionals from Nigeria are migrating to advanced western nations.

As advanced western nations are wooing medical professionals with fat pay, Nigeria, a nation of 218.5 million people, currently has only 24,000 licensed doctors.

Because of this, there is only one doctor to treat 30,000 patients in a few southern states, while in the north, it is one doctor catering to 45,000 patients. WHO's recommendations suggest one doctor to 1000 patients.

Nigerian doctors are finding the U.S. and UK far better than toiling in their native countries and some of them migrate to Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman.

A 2022 UK immigration report stated that 13,609 Nigerian healthcare professionals, including doctors, were given visas to make Nigeria second only to India, which sent 42,966 medical workers.

A total of 727 doctors from Nigeria relocated to the UK alone between December 2021 and May 2022 and the number of nurses increased by 68.4 percent from 2,790 in March 2017 to 7,256 in March 2022.

As there are few hands to look after patients, available doctors in the country are expected to shoulder more workload. This increases pressure on them and many of them prefer to abstain from their duty.

Minister of Health Osagie Ehanire said that to address the brain drain, the government would set up a mechanism to engage Nigerian doctors and nurses in the diaspora and connect them with universities and hospitals in the country.

Speaking in Abuja on Jan. 10 at the 17th edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration's Scorecard Series (2015-2023), he said many medical professionals say that they are not properly rewarded for the hard work they are doing.

To churn out skilled workers and graduates, education is highly subsidized by the government.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and engineering graduates are also trooping to overseas shores in large numbers.

The migration syndrome caused a paradigm shift in the country's job market, which is no more employer-centered but employee-focused.

Currently, there are more African scientists and engineers in the U.S. than in the entire African continent and the day is not far off when Africa will be empty of brains.

One of the main obstacles to Nigeria's development is the emigration of professionals. Unless the government reverses the trend, brain drain will continue to be a blot on the escutcheon of the country.

A tough task indeed for Nigeria's next president who will assume duty after the Feb. 25 polls.