The Federal Government plans to strengthen specialist healthcare services by deepening engagement with Nigerian healthcare professionals in the diaspora, with the aim of converting the country’s long-standing brain drain challenge into a “brain gain.”

Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Adekunle Salako, disclosed this at the Medical Council Health Roundtable Conference held in Abuja. He said the initiative would leverage the skills, investments and professional networks of Nigerian health professionals abroad to strengthen the country’s health system.

Salako said the government remains committed to investing in and expanding the health workforce, which he described as a strategic national asset. He added that efforts are underway to address workforce distribution inequalities through initiatives such as rural retention incentives.

The minister noted that Nigeria’s doctor-to-population ratio currently stands at 1:5,000, far below the recommendation of the World Health Organization of 1:600. Similarly, the nurse-to-population ratio is about 1:2,000 compared with the global benchmark of 1:300. He said the situation is further compounded by uneven distribution of health workers, with about 75 per cent concentrated in urban areas serving roughly 45 per cent of the population.

According to Salako, the government has initiated several strategic human resources interventions in the health sector. Between 2023 and now, more than 37,000 health workers have been recruited, with over 75 per cent in clinical roles.

He acknowledged that migration continues to affect workforce retention but said the government has developed a health workforce migration policy aimed at improving retention and encouraging stronger collaboration with Nigerian health professionals in the diaspora.

The minister said initiatives such as the Health Workforce Registry, expanded training quotas for healthcare workers, and on-the-job training for over 70,000 health workers are being implemented to optimise manpower resources.

Other measures include the deployment of community health extension workers, the health fellows programme, the establishment of a National Rapid Response Team for disease surveillance and expanded staffing for more than 130 laboratories across the country.

Salako highlighted several challenges facing Nigeria’s health sector, including funding gaps, fragmentation and coordination difficulties, brain drain, a top-heavy workforce structure, recurring industrial actions and persistent urban-rural disparities in health worker distribution.

He also revealed plans to build a climate-resilient health system powered by green energy solutions such as solar, gas and hydrogen-based systems. According to him, carbon credits generated from such initiatives could help finance improvements in healthcare infrastructure nationwide.

Reflecting on recent global health challenges, Salako said the past five years have tested health systems worldwide, citing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and reductions in development assistance for health by major donors including the United States, United Kingdom and Germany.

He said these developments exposed vulnerabilities in global health systems but also demonstrated the importance of coordinated action, innovation and political commitment.
According to him, the resilient health system Nigeria seeks to build is one in which every citizen can access quality healthcare without financial hardship, health workers are adequately motivated and equipped, and facilities have reliable electricity, water, medicines and equipment.

Salako added that more than 500 high-impact health infrastructure projects have been completed nationwide, with many others ongoing. A key innovation supporting these efforts is the Power for Health Initiative, designed to provide reliable electricity for healthcare facilities.

He noted that the government is also prioritising the strengthening of primary healthcare services through collaboration with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency and its state counterparts.

Working with the World Bank and other partners, he said, primary healthcare boards have been strengthened in 31 states, while governance structures in more than 400 local government areas have been established and made functional.

Salako explained that primary healthcare centres are being upgraded through renovation, improved equipment supply and additional personnel deployment. As a result, the quality performance score of these facilities has improved from 42 per cent to 67 per cent between baseline and endline assessments.

He also revealed that utilisation of primary healthcare services rose significantly from 15.1 million visits in 2024 to 170.8 million visits in 2025. The minister added that the government will continue to pursue health financing reforms, including increased budgetary allocations, guaranteed release of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund and improved capital expenditure for health infrastructure.

He said efforts are also underway to expand health insurance coverage by enforcing mandatory enrolment, increasing coverage for vulnerable populations and expanding benefit packages to include catastrophic illnesses, non-communicable diseases, mental health services and emergency care.

Salako further disclosed that the government’s digital health transformation agenda will focus on strengthening the National Health Data Repository and expanding telemedicine infrastructure to improve access to care nationwide.

He added that Nigeria has also advanced research governance through the work of the National Health Research Ethics Committee and the National Health Research Committee.

According to him, the launch of Nigeria’s first electronic research ethics platform, supported by the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and other partners, represents a major step toward improving transparency, efficiency and national data sovereignty in research oversight.