Nigeria is grappling with a worsening health workforce crisis as the mass migration of medical professionals continues to strain the country’s fragile healthcare system, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako, has said.
Salako raised the alarm on Monday while delivering a keynote address at the 2026 United Kingdom Global Health Summit held at the Royal College of Physicians in London.
The minister said the exodus of Nigerian health workers, popularly referred to as “japa”, had intensified manpower shortages and placed enormous pressure on the country’s already overstretched health system.
According to a copy of his speech made available to our correspondent in Abuja, Salako noted that Nigeria currently has about four doctors per 10,000 people, far below the benchmark recommended by the World Health Organisation, which suggests a minimum of 10 physicians per 10,000 population.
Salako said, “The global health workforce crisis is not a future threat but a present emergency. Africa carries more than a quarter of the global disease burden but commands less than three per cent of the global health workforce.”
He added that the situation was particularly acute in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, where the shortage of doctors, nurses, midwives and other health professionals had reached alarming levels.
The minister disclosed that migration of healthcare professionals had significantly worsened the country’s manpower deficit.
