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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu on Friday urged Nigerian medical professionals in the diaspora to deepen collaboration with local institutions, promising government incentives and institutional backing to channel their expertise into Nigeria’s health sector.
Speaking at the National Diaspora Day (NDD) 2026 celebration at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja, Tinubu said this year’s theme — “Harnessing Global Diaspora Medical Expertise to Strengthen Local Health Systems for National Development” — aligns with his administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda. “Our diaspora is one of Nigeria’s greatest assets,” the president said. “Across continents, Nigerian professionals have excelled in medicine, science, technology, and innovation. Their expertise, their networks, and their commitment are invaluable resources for our national development.”
He added: “Whether you are a surgeon in London, a researcher in Boston, a lab scientist in China or a nurse in Johannesburg—your skills are vital to building a resilient, inclusive and world-class healthcare system in Nigeria.”
Tinubu lauded the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) and its chair, Hon. (Dr.) Abike Dabiri-Erewa, OON, for coordinating diaspora engagement. He described the Diaspora Health Impact Initiative (DHII) — a NiDCOM and Federal Ministry of Health partnership — as “laudable,” and pledged to institutionalize the initiative to ensure transparency, measurable impact and incentives for returning or investing diaspora health professionals.
“We will create a platform that will institutionalize the Diaspora Healthcare Impact Initiatives (DHII) to coordinate contributions, offering incentives for Diaspora medical professionals who return to practice or invest,” Tinubu said.
He outlined government priorities that include expanding medical missions across the country, establishing knowledge-transfer partnerships with universities and teaching hospitals, leveraging telemedicine to link specialists at home, and encouraging diaspora-led investments in hospitals, pharmaceutical industries and research centers.
Acknowledging persistent weaknesses in the health system, the president said inadequate infrastructure, staff shortages and gaps in research were challenges but “not insurmountable.” “With the collective strength of our Diaspora, we can transform them into opportunities and that’s what we are doing right now,” he said.
Delivering the NiDCOM address, Abike Dabiri-Erewa said the commission had moved “from policy to impact” since its establishment in 2019, noting concrete achievements across health, education and economic engagement. “For the first time, the Nigerian diaspora has a voice at the highest level of government,” she said, thanking former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Tinubu for active engagement with diaspora town halls.
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Dabiri-Erewa highlighted the commission’s role in institutionalizing diaspora affairs through the National Diaspora Policy 2021 and the appointment of State Diaspora Focal Point Officers across most states.
She described the DHII’s zonal implementation, detailing targeted interventions in the North Central (FCT, Nasarawa) focused on primary health care strengthening led by CANPAD and NMA-Germany; the North West (Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto) focused on maternal, newborn and child health with MANSAG; the North East (Borno) addressing sickle cell screening and management by Concerned Medics Foundation; the South East (Imo, Abia, Enugu) delivering emergency life support, dental and eye surgeries through ANPA; the South South supporting gynaecology and endometriosis via NAMDA-Australia; and the South West (Lagos) providing interventional radiology, neurosurgery and gastro-endoscopy with the Nigerian Doctors Forum, South Africa.
“Our diaspora groups and individuals have equipped hospitals, PHCs, and donated medical equipment worth billions of naira,” Dabiri-Erewa said. She also announced progress on the National Diaspora Database and partnerships to bring academics home through the Diaspora Bridge and a planned Silicon Valley Tech Bridge with San José State University.
Dabiri-Erewa noted steady growth in diaspora remittances — from $17 billion in 2019 to more than $21 billion in 2025 — and pointed to diaspora investments in health, agriculture, real estate and the creative industries. She said NiDCOM will host the Nigeria-Saudi Investment and Tourism Summit in Abuja on August 4–5 and the Nigeria Diaspora Economic Conference (NIDEC) in Toronto from August 13–15, 2026. A diaspora mortgage and housing scheme in partnership with the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria is set to launch in the UK on August 7, she said.
She also outlined flagship plans including a Diaspora Investment Fund, a National Diaspora Health Corps that could engage up to 1,000 diaspora health professionals annually, and continued advocacy for diaspora voting in the National Assembly.
Dabiri-Erewa paid tribute to partners and individuals who supported rescue of trafficked Nigerians and consular interventions abroad, saying NiDCOM’s legal desk had intervened in over 1,200 detention and mistreatment cases. “We have moved from promise to performance,” she said. “You are truly our ambassadors at large. Our 7th region.”
The event brought together representatives of multiple diaspora medical associations, including the Nigerian Medical Association branches in Germany and elsewhere, the Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas (ANPA), Medical Association of Nigerians Across Great Britain (MANSAG-UK), NAMDA-Australia, CANPAD (Canada), and others involved in DHII.
Both Tinubu and Dabiri-Erewa urged awardees at the forthcoming National Diaspora Merit Award ceremony to continue contributing to Nigeria’s development. “The reward of good work is more work,” Dabiri-Erewa said.
The government’s commitments at NDD 2026 signal a sharpened focus on converting diaspora expertise and capital into lasting improvements in health infrastructure, training and service delivery across Nigeria. Tinubu closed his address with a call to unity: “Together, we can ensure that no Nigerian is denied quality healthcare because of geography or poverty.”
