With mass exodus of nurses and doctors fleeing abroad for greener’s pasture, this has left a serious gap in the health sector as a whopping 2,500 Nigerian patients would be attended to by one nurse, LEADERSHIP investigation can now reveal.
This is even as no fewer than 7,000 Nigerian nurses left the country in 2021 alone seeking greener pastures abroad, thereby, leaving four nurses for 10, 000 patients, according to a 2021 data sourced from World Health Organisation (WHO) and Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria.
The data also revealed that 5,407 Nigerian trained doctors are currently working with the British National Health Service in the United Kingdom at the expense of Nigeria.
Investigation shows that most Nigerian health practitioners are on a regular basis being persuaded by developed countries such as United Kingdom(UK), United States of America(USA), Canada, among others, a development that has drained the health sector of the required personnel to attend to ailing Nigerians.
This brain drain has made most Nigerians, especially, wealthy ones fail to trust Nigerian hospitals and would rather go for medical tourism abroad to resolve their ailment, hence, making Nigerian economy lost several billions of Naira annually to this development.
The brain drain is also affecting the ICT sector, financial sector, capital market, among others.
Aside this, a lot of Nigerians on a daily basis, are also struggling to exit the country to work and live elsewhere.
Experts attributed the mass migration of skilled Nigerians abroad, to harsh economic situation, insecurity and unstable employment market in the country.
World Bank, recently said 50 per cent of Nigerian youths want to leave the country.
Likewise in terms of visas issued to the UK, Nigeria recorded a rise of 234.7 per cent to 18,580 in the first nine months of 2021 from 5,551 in the same period of 2019.
The near total collapse of the health sector is imminent in the face of the need for medical professionals all over the world in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Member of the Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria (SOGON), Dr. Abayomi Ajayi tells LEADERSHIP.
Ajayi said the major nations of the world have been adversely affected by the pandemic, adding that Nigeria and a few other countries are providing the manpower to keep their population alive at the expense of our own citizenry.
When asked why they are leaving in troops, the managing director said, “While I do not want to raise issues around patriotism and personal development, it is imperative that we look at the converse side of the coin. Why are our doctors, Nurses and other medical professionals trooping out of the country in their thousands?,” he asked.
Many of them want a better life for themselves; Better salaries and allowances.
Better opportunities for research; Better opportunities in career advancement and adoption of modern techniques and technologies; Opportunities for family relocation to greener pastures; Living a better life; No power failure, better transportation lower incidence of crime, kidnapping, herdsmen attack the list is endless, he explained.
Reversing Medical Tourism, Brain Drain In Nigeria
He empathised with everyone living in Nigeria at a time like this, adding that, “Yes things are pretty challenging and I dare say everyone is feeling the pinch. But I will like to ask this question, why do we have myriads of foreigners coming into our country now? Are they not seeing or facing the same challenges that we are facing? I believe they see the challenges, but as I always say to people at gatherings like this while some people prefer to see problems and challenges, others and I dare say, a few people see opportunities.”
As effort to tackle brain drain in the health sector, the minister of Information and culture, Lai Mohammed, said the federal government is revamping the sector, to make it appealing for health professionals in Nigeria and abroad to work.
Mohammed recalled that, in the wake of COVID-19, the CBN set up the N100 billion Healthcare Sector Intervention Fund, now expanded to N200 billion, to provide credit support for the healthcare sector through long-term, low-cost financing.
“You are aware of the Federal Government’s Intervention in the Healthcare Sector through the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA). The NSIA has invested a total of $22.5 million in two diagnostic centers in Kano and Umuahia ($5.5 million each) and the NSIA-LUTH Cancer Centre in Lagos ($11.5 million). The NSIA is also committed to building a new quaternary hospital in Abuja,” he added.
The essence of these financial interventions and projects in the critical healthcare sector is to fast-track the evolvement of world class healthcare facilities like this Duchess International Hospital, the minister said, adding that, “With that, we can conserve our foreign reserves, earn foreign exchange for the country, create jobs, reverse brain drain, become a destination for medical tourists and also ensure affordable and standard healthcare for Nigerians.”
In order to retain doctors, the minister said the Nigerian healthcare facilities must be equipped to world standard level and doctors and other healthcare workers must be adequately remunerated, adding that, facilities like Duchess International are veritable tools for job creation, in additional to attracting medical tourists from across the world.
Moreover, public analyst, Comrade Lanre Arogundade, identified government’s policy summersault as one of the reasons why many Nigerians are migrating to other countries.
“Many policies that have adversely been affecting the masses are unwelcome burden on the masses who already have to contend with the negative consequences of spiraling inflation. Fuel and electricity prices are running hay wire and businesses are collapsing. This decision may affect small scale enterprises in the communication sector,” he said.
Similarly, the president of One Nigeria Empowerment Initiative Inc (ONEII), Comrade Onwumere John Chukwubuikem, while appealing to government to create conducive business atmospheres, said: “with high cost of fueling of generators by manufacturers putting many of them out business, and increased unemployment rate, president Muhammadu Buhari should use his offices to create more decent jobs to engage the teeming unemployed able men and women in order to restore peaceful society.”
In the same vein, the general secretary, Federation of Informal Workers of Nigeria (FIWON), Comrade Gbenga Komolafe, noted that, the country is losing qualified hands to other countries because of negative leadership.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP, Komolafe said, if FG can implement Economic Sustainability Plan which is supposedly designed to address multitudes of economic incongruities which were direct fall out of the Covid-19 pandemic, then, mass migration would be reduced.
“The Economic Sustainability Plan is supposed to help stimulate an economy inextricably driven into a depression by virtue of the lock downs imposed as a necessary containment measure for Covid -19. As is well known foreign exchange earnings plumetted dramatically as crude oil exports dwindled as Europe and American spit buyers went into lockdowns.”
Meanwhile, a lot of tech developers are either leaving Nigeria in search for ICT job that pays better or working remotely, LEADERSHIP findings revealed.
Recruiting in the tech industry is on the rise, with foreign companies reporting they are hiring ‘at or beyond pre-pandemic levels,’ the Robert Half Technology’s 2022 IT salary report revealed.
The most in-demand tech jobs for 2022 are Information security analyst, security analysts, Software developer, Network and computer systems administrator, Computer programmer, web developer, Computer and information systems manager and system analyst, among others, said CIO.
A web developer, Mr Nkem Chuks told LEADERSHIP that majority of Nigerians are migrating to other countries like the USA, Canada, London and some cities in the UK, in search of greener pastures.
Chuks said:”I am currently in the UK, working as a web designer in one of the reputable IT organisations. I left Nigeria because my talent wasn’t appreciated in the companies I have worked with in Nigeria.”
A T24 programmer in Nigeria, working with a reputable IT company in Nigeria spoke with LEADERSHIP anonymously that he receives N500,000 monthly as take home, but that is a peanut compared to what his friends are being paid abroad.
“On a monthly basis, my friends who are T24 programmers are being paid not less than $5,000 monthly. Now that the Naira has depreciated against the dollar, you are a big boy receiving that kind of money,” he said.
He disclosed that, he will not leave Nigeria, but however, currently looking for remote work.
As for a programmer, Dan Ese, he resigned recently, to work with an international company remotely. “Working remotely is the best for me, as I get paid in dollars, thereby boosting our foreign reserve,” he added.
Though, there is no statistic that revealed tech workers’ migration, the president of Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Mr. Chinese Mba-Uzoukwu, told LEADERSHIP that there is a trend in recent times.
The reason for that is not far-fetched, Mba-Uzoukwu said, adding that, most institutions in Nigeria have not fully deployed local solutions to local problems. Majority of the IT-enabled organisations in the country still depend on foreign countries for solutions, he said.
When asked if there are software developers to meet the needs of organisations in the country, Mba-Uzoukwu said: “Nigeria as a country is blessed with great software developers. We have programmers who have come up with several solutions to our local problems, but organisations sometimes don’t patronise them, as they prefer to import solutions or software from China and other countries.”
Experts said, if this trend continues, more software developers may migrate to other countries where their skills and work would be more appreciated. The way forward, according to them, is for organisations to assist local software developers to grow in terms of employment, higher wages and patronage.
In the same vein, the founder, Programos Foundation, Amos Emmanuel told LEADERSHIP that the Nigerian government must be more sensitive to yearnings of innovators in the country.
“Nigeria aspires for a digital economy, yet the country is not purchasing one, says the founder, while urging the government to offer complimentary support for local innovators to be groomed in relevant programmes that can reposition them for the new opportunities that are there for them, especially as it is directed to make them job creators than job seekers.
“Government should realise that it is innovation that will make the country stand globally and it should open up for fair and unbiased collaboration with the private sector.
“Government’s interest in capacity development of youths must move beyond events and expenditures, and be need-based, result-oriented with outcomes manifesting as actual capacity upskilling that solves myriads of the society’s challenges in the short term,” Emmanuel said.
The founder advised the Nigerian government to be transparent in their deeds and open up to offer unequivocal demands for the creative innovation ecosystem that is supplying numerous products and services that are capable of digitally transforming their entire e-government processes and services to its citizens.
“As digital ecosystems are expanding, the government needs to provide basic amenities like power, security and demonstrate corruption-free patronage to our local innovations which, as anyone can see, are globally competitive and of world class,” he added.
In his response, the head of Corporate Planning & Strategy, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr. Aristotle Onumo told LEADERSHIP that NITDA through various policies, is trying to build the required talents to be able to supply the necessary skills that is required in the industry.
Onumo said: “we cannot say the ICT sector is affected by brain drain, because Nigerians abroad, having acquired the necessary skills abroad come to the country to develop it. We have seen the likes of Jumia, Edukoya, among others.”
However, he disclosed that, NITDA is partnering international stakeholders to expose startups to gain the right kind of visibility, to attract investors into the country, adding that, this is part of NITDA’s pillars that is driving the agency’s strategic roadmap and action plan 2021-2024.
The director general, NITDA is passionate about start-ups and innovators, Onumo said, adding that, he is also passionate about catalysing the entire ecosystem to be able to drive digital economy in the country.
“He has encouraged the building of digital skills across board. Presently, quiet a number of Nigerians have been trained in digital skills through various programmes,” he added.
