THE Kwara State government has revealed that only 99 medical doctors are currently employed by the state across all 16 local government areas.
The government disclosed this through the Executive Secretary of the State Hospital Management Board, Abdulraheem Abdulmalik, during the 2025 first-quarter inter-ministerial press briefing in Ilorin, on Tuesday, April 29, according to Daily Trust.
Abdulmalik attributed the critical shortfall to the ongoing exodus of medical professionals, commonly referred to as the ‘japa’ syndrome, which has seen doctors leave the country in search of better opportunities abroad.
He noted that while the state Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq had approved the recruitment of more doctors, the board had been unable to find qualified personnel to fill the gaps.
“We have approval from His Excellency to recruit doctors, but we can’t just find the doctors to recruit. Doctors are hot cakes now. If a doctor resigns in the morning, he will get another job in the afternoon”, he said.
He explained that the state previously had 96 doctors on its payroll, but the number increased slightly to 99 after three doctors who had resigned returned following a salary increase approved by the governor.
However, he said the state needed between 180 and 200 doctors to meet current healthcare demands.
“The three medical doctors who left the service returned after the recent increase in doctors’ salaries by the Governor. We actually had 96, but after His Excellency increased the salary, three of them who ‘japa’ came back. So, we have 99 right now. We’re expecting more at the moment because we need about 180 to 200 medical doctors,” he said.
Abdulmalik said, in response to the shortage, the board was developing a software application that would enable patients to know the number of doctors available at the state’s 45 government-owned hospitals at any given time.
He said the initiative aimed to reduce long waiting periods and prevent life-threatening delays in accessing care.
He further highlighted the difficulty of deploying doctors to rural areas, where he said the shortage was more severe.
“The remuneration will be at par with what is obtainable in the Western world, where most of the doctors are leaving for greener pastures”, he stated.
“On recruitment, we have presented a prerequisite to the Governor on actually harvesting doctors from medical schools. So, the state government sponsors you as a student for maybe a year or two, and you pay back by working for the state for those two years in which the state has invested in you.
“That means we will continue to have a cycle of students. So, the state government sponsors you for two or three years and you work for the state government for those number of years before you ‘Japa’. That would mean there is a closing of the gap for medical doctors. This would kick off in about three to four years because we are starting from their Clinical Level, which is 400 Level,” he added.
The Nigeria’s brain drain
The ICIR reports that the migration of health workers, particularly doctors, nurses, and other essential healthcare professionals, has long been a significant challenge facing Nigeria’s healthcare system. Their exodus has left many healthcare facilities understaffed and struggling to meet the population’s healthcare needs.
The doctors and healthcare workers across the country have repeatedly cited poor remuneration, delays in salary adjustments, and unresolved welfare concerns as the contributory factors that have led to the mass exodus of professionals from the country.
In April 26, 2024, The ICIR reported that only 45 per cent of registered doctors in Nigeria renewed their licence in 2023.
In September 2023, the former president of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) said Nigeria had fewer than 100,000 registered doctors, out of which 50,000 practised in Nigeria. He noted that for Nigeria to meet the World Health Organisation’s standard of doctors to patients ratio, the country must employ at least 250,000 medical doctors.
In January 2025, the Medical and Dental Consultants Association (MDCAN) raised the alarm over the exodus of medical consultants from Nigeria.
The group said over 1,300 medical consultants migrated from the nation in five years, leaving the country with only 6,000 consultants, serving nearly 220 million people.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M