Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has asked governments at all levels to provide incentives for medical doctors and healthcare workers in order to stem the tide of migration, popularly known as ‘Japa’.
Speaking on Tuesday at the inauguration of the Yeriman Bakura Specialist Hospital in Zamfara, Obasanjo said the migration of trained medical personnel is worsening the country’s healthcare sector.
The former president, who stressed the urgent need to retain trained medical professionals within the country, advised that infrastructure upgrades must be matched with strategic policies and incentives to keep skilled health workers at home.
“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.
The former president emphasised that beyond infrastructure and equipment, quality healthcare delivery also depends on human resources.
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“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,” Obasanjo added.
His comments come amid growing concern over the exodus of Nigerian health professionals seeking better opportunities and working conditions abroad.
Last year, the National Hospital in Abuja said brain drain had reduced its workforce from 3,000 to 2,500.
In 2022, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) warned that the trend was contributing to rising infant and maternal mortality.
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