The Federal Government says it has approved the recruitment of over 15,000 health workers into federal tertiary institutions to tackle the stress caused by brain drain in the health sector and reduce the burden on existing staff working long hours.
The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare noted that the recruitment is a proactive response to the mass exodus of Nigerian health professionals seeking better opportunities abroad, a trend widely known as JAPA, which has left many public hospitals understaffed and overstretched.
According to a statement by the Deputy Director/Head of Information and Public Relations, Alaba Balogun on Saturday, the approval follows special relaxations given to enable mass employment process for various categories of health professionals including doctors, nurses, pharmacists and allied health workers.
“Recruitment for 2025 is currently underway and approval has already been received to employ more than 15,000 health workers.
This recruitment drive is part of a larger strategy to ensure that Nigeria’s health facilities are adequately staffed, safe and equipped to provide quality care to citizens”, the statement said.
The ministry further said that the latest recruitment follows a similar exercise in 2024 in which over 20,000 doctors, nurses, pharmacists and allied professionals were appointed across 58 federal health institutions.
It said the move is part of the Renewed Hope Health Agenda's commitment to strengthen human resources for health.
The Ministry also addressed the recent dismissal of five doctors from the Federal Teaching Hospital, Lokoja, confirming that the three doctors who did not appear before the duly constituted disciplinary committee have been offered the opportunity to rejoin the federal service if they wish.
The phenomenon in Japan has seen thousands of doctors, nurses and pharmacists leave in search of better opportunities in the United Kingdom, Canada and the Gulf states as hospitals struggle to fill critical positions.
The latest data from the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) shows that 15,421 Nigerian-trained nurses and midwives have been licensed to practice in the United Kingdom between 2017 and March 2025. The figure rose to 14,815 in September 2024, an increase of 4.1% within six months.
The Nigeria Association of Resident Doctors recently revealed that the number of resident doctors has declined from 15000 to less than 8000 in the last 10 years, with a decline of about 50% in residency training.
