President Tinubu Appeals To Nigerian Health Workers Abroad To Return

President Bola Tinubu has encouraged Nigerian medical workers abroad to return home and contribute to the development of the country’s health sector.

He made the call at the State House in Abuja on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, during the unveiling of the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative.

President Tinubu further announced plans for a comprehensive revamp of health infrastructure and equipment and the re-training of health workers in 2024.

“We encourage those Nigerian health professionals in the Diaspora, just like Professor Ali Pate and Tunji Alausa have done, to sacrifice their time to come back home and serve their people. Consider your contributions here at home, as we say, ‘Charity begins at home’,” the president advised.

“For the developed countries who benefited from amazing talents of Nigerian health workers, we’ll really encourage them to consider how to support the expansion of training facilities in Nigeria to replace those that they have recruited from here. You should also look at the short and long-term opportunities that we offer.”

“Yes, we have a vibrant, well-educated society, but we need Nigeria to rise on one side with climate change and drop the health system to decay. We will rise.”

Nigeria has witnessed a mass exodus of health workers to developed countries like the United Kingdom and Canada.

Related: President Tinubu Appeals To Multinational Companies Not To Leave Nigeria

Poor salary structures and welfare packages, along with poor health infrastructure, have been blamed for the migration of health workers from Nigeria to foreign countries.

Critics believe President Tinubu should focus on fixing the health system of the country to attract health workers abroad to return rather than appealing to them.