From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The President of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Haruna Mamman, said on Thursday that 15,495 nurses have left Nigeria for foreign practice as of February 2025, according to the group’s records.
This comes days after the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Ali Pate, revealed that 16,000 doctors exited Nigeria in the last five years. He added that many more doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers plan to leave for overseas opportunities.
Speaking after the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of NANNM in Abuja, Mamman warned that the trend is alarming. He said it could threaten timely and quality healthcare in Nigeria. He blamed the government’s slow action on nurses’ welfare, pointing to the Scheme of Service, approved in 2016 but still not gazetted nine years later.
“Another challenge is the issue of industrial court judgment that has not been implemented, as well as the request for the decentralisation of internship opportunities for those who have graduated from the nursing schools, and are seeking opportunity for internship,” he said. Nurses can’t strike due to their critical role, so they’re using diplomacy to push for change, he added.
NANNM’s National Secretary, Dr Thomas Shettima, spoke against the rise in nursing schools. He argued that producing more nurses won’t stop the “japa” (migration) trend but could create official quacks.
“By the time you have produced those that you cannot employ, and they have already acquired the knowledge, and are unable to go outside, they remain in the society. And if they are in the society, and are jobless, they have the knowledge and are approached for any treatment for their services, they will definitely go and render those services. And in rendering the services, some could go outside their ways, because they must survive,” he said.
He urged the government to fix why people leave—poor welfare and service conditions. “For instance, there are some allowances of nurses and midwives that have not been reviewed for over 30 years now. And any call to review that is met with resistance,” he noted. Opening more schools won’t help; better conditions will, he stressed.
Kogi State NANNM Chairman, Umar Suleiman Bako, also criticized the delay in gazetting the 2016 Scheme of Service. “This was one of the push factors for nurses and midwives who are apparently fed up with the poor remuneration, and are seeking better opportunities abroad,” he said. In Kogi, nurses at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels earn differently due to no unified pay scheme.
He called on NANNM and the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) to boost monitoring to keep training standards high.