The Ministry of Health, Planning, Research and Statistics, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, has disclosed that about 80 percent of health workers in Nigeria is being exported outside the country.
The said the worrisome situation has persisted even as the is in need of over 108 million health workers you provide adequately for the health need of citizens.
The minister stated this at a mandatory talent development programme organized by the Chartered Institute of Human Capital Development of Nigeria, CIHCDN, with a theme, “Skills Paradigm Shifts Strategies for Driving Productivity.”
The Minister who was represented by the Head of Health Survey Coordination in Nigeria, Mr. Anthony Udoh, stated that “one of the shocking thing is that 80 percent of human resources in Nigeria, only in the medical field, is being exported outside the country, being the first in Africa after South Africa.
According to him, “In the 2015 global outlook conducted by World Health Organization, WHO, within the UK alone, at 2015, 10,000 Nigerian doctors alone were there while 30,000 of our nurses were there in the UK.
“We did a study with the African Center for Global Health and Social Development, which revealed that 23,000 doctors that graduated from the University of Calabar are currently working in Canada.
“At a meeting in Uganda recently, it was discovered that Nigeria needs over 108, million health workers and meanwhile, by November 2021 alone, 14,000 more health workers migrated from Cross Rivers to work overseas.
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Describing the situation as worrisome, the minister lamented that despite the country’s need in human capital, the available human resources are seeking to work elsewhere to the detriment of the country.
The health minister stated that the theme of the programme was apt, charged the institute to partner with the government to evolve ways to develop human capital to feed the country’s needs.
He also harped on the need for the country to implement the labour Migration Policy and WHO Code of Practice to ensure that the rights of citizens to freedom of movement is not infringed upon.
Earlier, the Chairman of Board of Trustees, BOT, and Council, Mr. Cyril Ogboli, said Nigeria needs an education systems that provides young people with basic skills both cognitive and behavioural, to enable them focus on skills acquisition rather than acquisition of certificates.
Ogboli who noted that citizens must shift their skills to match with currents trends of responsibilities said the institute will explore avenues of partnership with government so she can leverage on the number and knowledge of the people for national development.
