The Federal Government yesterday called for a new global agreement to compel wealthy countries to compensate developing nations for recruiting their health workers, saying that the continued migration of doctors and nurses is crippling health systems in Africa. The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare Iziaq Salako made the call at the 2026 United Kingdom Global Health Summit in London.
Speaking at the Royal College of Physicians, Salako said the current global recruitment system allows wealthy nations to benefit from professionals trained at huge public cost in poorer countries, a trend he described as “neither sustainable nor just”.
He said: “The current model, in which lowincome countries invest in training and highincome countries reap the benefits, is neither sustainable nor just. “We propose structured bilateral and multilateral agreements that include compensation for source countries; joint training programmes, and managed circular migration pathways.”
According to him, Nigeria is facing severe shortages of medical professionals as thousands leave for better opportunities abroad.
The minister said Nigeria currently has about four doctors per 10,000 people, far below the World Health Organization’s recommended minimum of 10 per 10,000 population. According to him, 13,609 Nigerian health workers migrated to the UK between 2021 and 2022 alone, citing official UK data.
He said: “Every doctor, every nurse, every midwife who leaves Nigeria represents a substantial flight of invested public resources. “Training a physician can exceed $200,000. When they migrate, that investment is effectively transferred from one of the world’s poorest health systems to wealthy nations.”
