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From Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
A University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED) don, Prof. Thadius Ijadunola, has called for a comprehensive overhaul of Nigeria’s healthcare system, warning that the country’s worsening health workforce crisis poses a serious threat to national health security and sustainable development.
Delivering the 2026 edition of the Prof. Oladipo Akinkugbe Distinguished Lecture at the University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED), Ondo, titled “Reimagining the Nigerian Healthcare System: Leadership, Research and Innovation for the Future,” Ijadunola, a Professor of Community Medicine at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, described the mass migration of healthcare professionals and the retirement of experienced personnel as a “double depletion” that is weakening healthcare delivery and eroding future leadership capacity within the sector.
He stressed that reversing the trend would require bold policy decisions, sustained investment, and coordinated action by governments, healthcare institutions, development partners, and other stakeholders.
“The health workforce attrition crisis constitutes an existential threat to health security and institutional resilience. The simultaneous loss of younger professionals through migration and experienced workers through retirement creates a ‘double depletion’ effect, weakening both current service delivery and future leadership capacity,” Ijadunola said.
According to the don, Nigeria must urgently adopt a multi-pronged strategy that combines managed migration frameworks, enhanced remuneration, improved working conditions, and targeted expansion of the primary healthcare workforce to avert what he described as a catastrophic deterioration of the nation’s health security architecture.
He advocated far-reaching reforms in health financing, human resources management, gender-responsive healthcare, health policy, legislation, research priorities, economic management, and relevant constitutional provisions to build an inclusive and resilient healthcare system.
“By addressing the fundamental gaps in health funding, human resources management, gender-responsive care, health policy and legislative enactments, health research priorities, economic management and relevant constitutional provisions, Nigeria can build a healthcare system that truly works for all its citizens, leaving no one behind.”
Ijadunola added that his lecture presented a practical roadmap for transforming the nation’s healthcare sector, noting that renewed political commitment would enable Nigeria to harness technology, innovation, and gender-equitable policies to improve access to quality and affordable healthcare.
“With a renewed commitment to healthcare as a national priority, Nigeria can leverage technology, innovation and a gender-equitable approach to deliver quality, accessible and affordable healthcare to its people. This is not just a moral imperative but a crucial step towards a healthier, more prosperous and more equitable Nigeria,” he said.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Vice-Chancellor, Ondo, Prof. Ebunoluwa Adejuyigbe, described the annual Oladipo Akinkugbe Distinguished Lecture as more than an academic tradition, saying it is a celebration of the enduring legacy of one of Nigeria’s foremost physician-scholars and university administrators.
According to the Vice-Chancellor, the late Emeritus Professor Oladipo Akinkugbe laid the institutional foundation upon which UNIMED continues to thrive through his visionary leadership as the pioneer Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council.
“Today’s gathering is far more than an academic tradition; it is a solemn celebration of a life whose enduring legacy continues to illuminate the path of medical education, university governance and national development,” Adejuyigbe said.
The annual Oladipo Akinkugbe Distinguished Lecture is organised by the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, to honour the memory and enduring contributions of the late Emeritus Professor Oladipo Akinkugbe to medicine, higher education, leadership, and national development, while providing a platform for robust discourse on issues of strategic importance to Nigeria’s healthcare system.
