Foreign
FG unveils plans to bring back 12,400 japa doctors
President Bola Tinubu, on Monday, approved the National Policy on Health Workforce Migration to address the continued exodus of Nigerian doctors abroad.
The policy, announced by the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate, on his X handle on Tuesday, aims to woo an estimated 12,400 Nigerian-trained doctors practising abroad
According to Pate, who also appeared on Channels TV on Tuesday evening, 67 per cent of Nigerian-trained doctors are practising in the United Kingdom alone.
“The recruitment countries, that recruit our professionals, should they not have some responsibilities to help us expand the training? Because the strain of health workers’ migration is continuous; it’s not going to stop tomorrow.
“the UK will need Nigerian doctors; 67 per cent of our doctors go to the United Kingdom and 25 per cent of the NHIS workforce is Nigerian.
“Nigerians are very vibrant, very entrepreneurial, and very capable wherever they are. If Nigerians hold back from the UK, for instance, the NHS will struggle to provide the services that many Nigerians are going there to get,” the minister said.
Pate said the policy signed by the President was more than just a response to the ongoing exodus of healthcare professionals but a comprehensive strategy to manage, harness, and reverse health workers’ migration.
While health workers believed the policy might be positive, they demanded the details and implementation plan.
Announcing the policy on Tuesday, the health minister said, ”This afternoon, HE President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR @officialABAT, in-council, approved a landmark policy set to transform healthcare human resource management in Nigeria.
“The National Policy on Health Workforce Migration addresses the critical challenges facing Nigeria’s health human resources. As the AU Champion for Human Resources for Health and Community Health Delivery Partnership, Mr President’s commitment to a resilient and robust healthcare system is powerfully reflected in this forward-looking policy.
“This policy is more than just a response to the ongoing exodus of healthcare professionals; it’s a comprehensive strategy to manage, harness, and reverse health worker migration. It envisions a thriving workforce that is well-supported, adequately rewarded, and optimally utilised to meet the healthcare needs of all Nigerians.”
Many Nigerian healthcare workers leave the country for greener pastures, leaving their colleagues to contend with additional workload and extended call hours.
The push factors, according to them, are inadequate equipment, worsening insecurity, poor working conditions, and poor salary structure.
The minister noted that central to this vision was the Nigeria Human Health Resource Programme, which sets a framework for regular reviews of working conditions, ensuring that health workers, especially in rural and underserved areas, receive the recognition and rewards they deserve.
“By fostering an environment conducive to professional growth and stability, the policy aims to retain top talent within Nigeria.
“In an increasingly digital world, integrating advanced health technologies is essential. The policy’s focus on digital health infrastructure—including electronic medical records, telehealth, and a comprehensive health workforce registry—marks a significant step towards a more efficient, data-driven health system. These innovations will streamline healthcare delivery and enhance the equitable distribution of health workers, ensuring access to quality care for all Nigerians.
“Capacity building is at the heart of this policy. It recognises the importance of continuous professional development, with strategic partnerships and opportunities for international training to equip our healthcare professionals with cutting-edge skills. This investment in human capital underscores our commitment to retaining and empowering our healthcare workforce,” he stated.
He added that the policy addressed the return and reintegration of Nigerian health professionals from the Diaspora.
The minister said by establishing streamlined registration processes and providing attractive incentives, the policy would not only encourage the return of talented professionals but also actively reintegrate them into the health system.
“This approach leverages the expertise of our Diaspora to bridge gaps within the health sector. Also, the policy champions reciprocal agreements with other nations to ensure that the exchange of health workers benefits Nigeria. These bilateral and multilateral agreements are designed to protect national interests while respecting the rights and aspirations of our healthcare professionals. We call on recipient countries to implement a 1:1 match—training one worker to replace every publicly trained Nigerian worker they receive.
“Recognising the importance of work-life balance, the policy includes provisions for routine health checks, mental well-being support, and reasonable working hours, especially for younger doctors. These measures aim to create a supportive work environment, reducing burnout and enhancing job satisfaction.
“The governance of this policy will be overseen by the National Human Resources for Health Programme within @Fmohnigeria, in collaboration with state governments. This ensures responsible implementation and alignment with broader sector-wide health objectives.
“With this decisive action, the National Policy on Health Workforce Migration is set to secure the future of Nigeria’s healthcare system. Under Mr President’s leadership, this policy will further catalyse the transformation of our health sector, ensuring access to quality healthcare for all Nigerians.
“As we embark on this journey, all stakeholders are invited to contribute to building a healthcare system that reflects our nation’s potential and promise,” Pate said.
Explaining the policy further, the Senior Adviser, Media and External Relations, Tashikalmah Hallah, said the government was negotiating with countries where Nigerian healthcare workers migrate to to help Nigeria improve health training facilities.
“We are talking to those countries that our health workers are going to, to see if they can now help Nigeria to improve provisions of some of the facilities that will enable Nigeria to train more health workers.
“The Federal Government has expanded our admission quota and improved on these medical institutions, so they are now encouraging all these countries where our health workers go, to assist us in maintaining these health institutions.”
Hallah said the implementation of the policy takes effect immediately.
“It’s a policy, it was adopted by the Federal Executive Council yesterday (Monday). So, it is immediate, and it has been approved. So, it’s a Nigerian government policy. This is a policy binding on healthcare workers.
He emphasised that the FG has established a policy allowing healthcare workers to travel abroad for training and then return to apply their new knowledge.
“Currently, there is a request by Qatar for 10 medical doctors to go there to study, especially in oncology. So, immediately after the training, they are coming back to the country,” he said.
Guarded optimism
The President of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, Prof Muhammad Muhammad, said the policy looks more theoretical than real.
Muhammad also called for the details of the policy for a better understanding.
“The issue is that we need to see the detail, it’s not just the English that matters. People bring a lot of policies on the ground, very well drafted and crafted, but execution is usually a problem. It might be difficult to say we are fully in support or otherwise if we have not seen the document.
“I have planned to check on the Ministry of Health, maybe tomorrow (today), to see if we can get the document and look at it. They mentioned certain things that we have been advocating – the welfare of doctors, improvement of the work environment, and retraining, but how they are going to do it needs to be spelled out in the document.
“We were not consulted before drafting the document, so we don’t have an insight into what is in the document. If they are going to put it to work, what they have written might be beneficial to the system and to also the healthcare workers, but the problem is that there may be a lot of other things that we don’t know yet. For example, when they say they are going to stop the migration, in what way? Is it by preventing doctors from moving, or how are they going to do it?”
The MDCAN President noted that the public needs to know if the policy will improve or worsen the rights of healthcare workers.
He said the 1:1 match—training of healthcare workers to replace every publicly trained Nigerian worker might mean that, “They want any country that is hiring a healthcare worker, in addition to paying the healthcare worker, will also pay Nigeria for the cost of training that doctor. Let’s say Saudi Arabia or UK or Canada are going to employ a doctor that is trained in the public institution, they will expect that that country will pay Nigeria the same amount that was spent to train that doctor in Nigeria.”
The Secretary of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Lagos State Council, Toba Odumosu, acknowledged that the policy appeared promising but emphasised the importance of gaining a clearer understanding of its details.
He also expressed support for the 1:1 training match for healthcare workers, noting that this approach is successfully implemented in other countries as well.
“For everybody that migrates to particular countries, you have a bilateral agreement for active recruitment of our health workers, then you find a way to sponsor the training of another healthcare worker in Nigeria. So the burden of training is not just on the Nigerian government, but the people who also benefit. That’s essentially what so many countries have done. In some cases, they have bilateral agreements that would mean that you actually go there for a certain number of years, and then you also find an agreement to come back to your country for a particular number of years before you are now free to migrate back. So, it’s sort of like a controlled migration system.
“But, we need the details of the policy to understand how this works because we still need to allocate more funds in the health sector, and meet the 2001 Abuja health declaration,” he noted.
As of December 3, 2023, the number of Nigerian-trained doctors licensed to practice in the UK was now 12,198, according to data from the General Medical Council in the UK.
Also, no fewer than 281 Nigerian doctors are working in other African countries, according to the data obtained from the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria in 2023.
The MDCN data showed that 153 Nigerian doctors are practicing in Sudan; followed by South Africa with 41 doctors; Egypt 17; Ghana 17; Uganda 13; Gambia – seven.
Others are Lesotho -six; Cameroon – four; Namibia -four; Algeria -two; Ethiopia -two; Kenya -two; Liberia -two; Benin -one; Botswana -one; Equatorial Guinea -one; Niger -one; Rwanda -one; Sierra Leone -one; Seychelles -one; South Sudan -one; Tanzania -one; Togo -one; and Zambia -one.
So far, a total of 13,656 Nigerian-trained nurses and midwives are practicing in the United Kingdom.
This is according to the latest report on the number of nursing and midwifery professionals on the Nursing and Midwifery Council register as of March 31, 2024.
The report also showed that Nigeria is one of the top non-UK countries of education as of March 2024, and the number of Nigerian nurses and midwives practicing in the UK increased by 28.3 per cent in one year.
Other top non-UK countries of education as of March 2024, compared to last year are India (62,413), Philippines (49,092), Romania (7,378), and Ghana (5,536).
South Africa’s anti-immigration group, March and March, has announced September 30 as a fresh deadline for undocumented foreigners to leave the country, as it staged a protest outside the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Durban on Monday.
The group marched through central Durban under the theme, “It’s time to fetch your people,” calling on African leaders attending the 46th SADC Summit to take back their citizens living in South Africa without legal documentation.
March and March had earlier led nationwide protests on June 30, demanding tougher government action against undocumented immigration and warning that its campaign would continue until its demands were addressed.
Announcing its latest action, the group said the September 30 deadline would mark the beginning of what it described as the “mother of all protests”, while urging South Africans to assist the police in identifying undocumented foreigners.
The protest took place as the 46th Ordinary SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government got underway in Durban, with leaders from the regional bloc’s 16 member states in attendance.
The demonstration has renewed debate over South Africa’s treatment of foreign nationals, particularly citizens of other African countries.
President Cyril Ramaphosa recently condemned discrimination and violence against foreigners, saying South Africa could not advocate regional integration at the SADC summit while practising exclusion within the country.
The June 30 protests were accompanied by security operations and reports of attacks and looting in some areas, according to police reports cited in the original report.
March and March has continued to demand tougher action against undocumented immigration, while tensions over the treatment of foreign nationals have prompted some African countries to evacuate their citizens from South Africa.
The latest protest has brought the immigration dispute directly to the doorstep of the SADC summit, placing the issue before regional leaders whose citizens are among those affected.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of a US deal with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz, while calling on Tehran to surrender.
Trump made the remarks in an interview with Fox News journalist Trey Yingst, amid ongoing talks between Oman and Iran over future maritime navigation arrangements through the strategic waterway.
“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them,” Trump said, referring to the discussions between Oman and Iran as Washington pursues its own negotiations.
Iranian and Omani officials have been holding talks for weeks, with Iran’s Foreign Ministry saying Monday that both sides were working towards a joint declaration on the strait.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Strait of Hormuz is under US control, despite Iran maintaining an effective blockade that has severely restricted maritime traffic.
On Friday, Trump said he could even declare the Strait of Hormuz part of US territory, prompting Iran to insist that the strategic waterway “will remain Iranian.”
Trump also called on Iran to “put up the white flag of surrender,” according to Yingst.
The Strait of Hormuz, which lies between Iran to the north and Oman to the south, was previously regarded as an open international waterway and carries a significant share of global energy shipments.
AFP
There has been no known deployment of US ground forces in Iran during the Middle East war, with the exception of a rescue mission in April for a downed American pilot.
Hatami did not provide any details on where or when the killing or capturing of US soldiers was expected to take place.
“Anyone who kills or captures and hands over an invading American military personnel will receive a reward equivalent to $30,000 or 5 billion tomans from the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Army,” Hatami said, using an informal unit equivalent to 10,000 Iranian rials.
The war between Tehran and Washington began on February 28 after the United States, joined by Israel, attacked Iran. It was followed by an April ceasefire after nearly 40 days of fighting, and a June framework for peace talks that later collapsed.
Iran and the United States have since traded fire sporadically, with fighting mainly centred in southern Iran and around the Strait of Hormuz.
AFP
The family of Philip Ifeanyi Elobuike, an indigene of Eziama Village, Ebe, in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State, has appealed to the public for assistance in locating him after his photograph surfaced on social media following nearly two years without contact.
Elobuike first travelled to the United States around 2004 and initially settled in the Los Angeles area of California. He later moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, before relocating to Dallas, Texas.
According to his family, Elobuike remained in contact with his relatives in Nigeria until around 2024, when communication with him suddenly stopped. Before losing contact, he was active on social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.
His family had continued searching for him, and on August 11, 2026, they were relieved when his photograph surfaced on social media. The picture provided them with at least some reassurance that he was alive.
Elobuike Philip
However, contrary to reports circulating in some media outlets and on social media, Elobuike has not been reunited with his family or located by his kinsmen in the United States.
His relatives and members of the Nigerian community reportedly spent the entire day on August 12 searching for him in different parts of Dallas but were unable to locate him.
The family is therefore appealing to members of the public, particularly Nigerians and other individuals in the Dallas area, to assist in locating Elobuike and ensuring that he is safely reunited with his family.
The family also urged people to disregard reports claiming that he has already been found and reunited with his relatives, describing such reports as inaccurate.
Anyone who has information about Elobuike’s whereabouts or comes across him is urged to contact any of the following:
Dr. Fred Ngwu: (214) 418-8145
Moses Onyejekwe: (213) 479-2340
Law Okolo: (646) 302-2597
The family expressed appreciation to everyone who has shared his photograph and appealed for continued circulation of the information until he is successfully located.
No fewer than 205 Nigerians were deported from Canada in June 2026 as Canadian authorities intensified enforcement of the country’s immigration laws, according to official figures released by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
Immigration removal statistics published by the CBSA showed that 10,607 individuals were removed from Canada during the month, with Nigerians ranking among the top 10 nationalities affected by the exercise.
The figures indicate that Nigerians accounted for nearly two per cent of all removals carried out in June.
India recorded the highest number of deportations, with 3,323 nationals removed, followed by Mexico with 1,573. The United States accounted for 372 deportees, while Colombia and Romania recorded 354 and 293 removals respectively.
Other countries with significant numbers of nationals deported included Bangladesh, with 227, and Pakistan, with 207.
Explaining the rationale behind the removals, the CBSA said enforcing immigration laws was critical to protecting the integrity of Canada’s immigration system.
“Removing individuals who do not have the right to enter or stay in Canada is essential to maintaining the integrity of Canada’s immigration program and to ensuring fairness for those who come to this country lawfully,” the agency stated.
The latest figures underscore Canada’s continued enforcement against individuals found to have no legal right to remain in the country, as authorities seek to ensure compliance with the nation’s immigration laws.
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