Garba Mohammed
Nigeria’s health sector is facing a worsening crisis as professional bodies have raised alarm over the increasing migration of doctors and other medical workers abroad, warning that the trend—popularly known as the Japa syndrome—is pushing the nation’s healthcare system to the brink of collapse.
At the opening of its 45th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference in Katsina, the President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, Dr. Tope Osundara, revealed that the number of resident doctors had dropped from about 15,000 in 2014 to barely 8,000 in 2025. He said migration is fuelled by poor remuneration, harsh working conditions, lack of manpower, and absence of incentives. According to him, the exodus has worsened the shortage of doctors, leaving critically ill patients unattended and the system overstretched. “For over a decade, there was no attempt through a collective bargaining agreement to enhance the salaries of medical doctors. The strongest reward to motivate health workers in Nigeria remains salary and financial incentives,” Osundara stressed.
NARD, which suspended its recent five-day warning strike after two days, will reconvene on September 26 to decide whether to resume industrial action, pending government response to its welfare demands.
The Lagos State chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Babajide Saheed, outlined measures the government must adopt to stem the exodus. He urged an upward review of doctors’ salaries and allowances, improved welfare packages such as housing and car loans, more investment in training and retraining, and the provision of modern infrastructure to create a conducive working environment. He stressed that proper call rooms, consulting spaces, theatres, and welfare support were just as critical as salary increases in retaining professionals.
The Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria described the situation as a national emergency. Its President, Dr. Casmir Ifeanyi, said tens of thousands of health workers have left in just three years, causing longer waiting times, declining service quality, and preventable patient deaths. “Nigeria is bleeding, not through bullets or bombs, but through the steady flight of her most critical human resource,” he warned, urging the government to prioritise fair and timely pay, safe workplaces, structured career growth, accurate workforce data, diaspora engagement, and ethical international recruitment to reverse the trend.
A former chairman of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Bola Oyawole, condemned what he called “selective compensation” that favours physicians over other health professionals. He revealed that more than 8,000 pharmacists had failed to renew their licenses in the past five years due to migration. He called for approval of new allowances, increase in retirement age, better implementation of the consultant cadre, and stronger support for local drug manufacturing to strengthen pharmacy practice in the country.
In the same vein, the President of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, Prof. Appolos Ndukuba, urged the federal and state governments to act immediately by increasing pay, improving security, and equipping health facilities. He warned that doctors had become easy targets for kidnappers, which was also forcing many to leave for safety abroad. According to him, punitive measures such as mandatory bonding will not work. He said Nigeria must replicate the pull factors of destination countries, such as competitive pay, career growth, modern equipment, and recognition of health workers. “If lawmakers can enjoy robust pay, those who save lives should be fairly compensated,” he said, stressing the need for modern theatres, diagnostics, and emergency equipment across hospitals.
Across the board, health associations emphasised that Nigeria cannot continue subsidising foreign health systems with its scarce human resources. They called on the government to prioritise fair pay, improved welfare, hospital infrastructure, inclusive leadership, and regulatory reforms to save the healthcare system from imminent collapse.