Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged governments at all levels to provide incentives for doctors and other healthcare professionals to discourage their migration abroad.
Speaking on Tuesday during the inauguration of the Yeriman Bakura Specialist Hospital in Zamfara, Obasanjo expressed concern over the exodus of trained medical personnel, commonly referred to as ‘japa,’ which he noted is exacerbating the challenges in Nigeria’s healthcare sector.
He emphasized that upgrading healthcare infrastructure must be accompanied by strategic policies and incentives to retain skilled health workers within the country.
“For hospitals, especially when many Nigerians who have been trained as medical personnel are ‘japa-ing’, which is going out of the country, looking for better conditions, how do you hold them here? You have to give them a bit of incentive,” he said.
“We need all the personnel that we can have because our hospitals have to deliver. You need the right environment and that is the refurbishing, renovation but you need the right equipment and then you need the personnel.”
In recent years, Nigeria’s healthcare sector has faced an increasing exodus of medical professionals seeking better opportunities abroad.
The National Hospital in Abuja reported last year that brain drain had reduced its workforce from 3,000 to 2,500.
In 2022, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) cautioned that this trend is significantly contributing to the rising rates of infant and maternal mortality in the country.