Former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has emphasized the need for improved working conditions for medical professionals trained within the country to stem the tide of emigration among healthcare workers.
Obasanjo made this appeal during the commissioning of the newly refurbished Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital in Zamfara State on Tuesday.
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Hosted by Governor Dauda Lawal, the elder statesman expressed deep concern over the growing trend of skilled Nigerian youth, especially in the medical sector, leaving the country in pursuit of better opportunities abroad—a movement widely referred to as ‘Japa’.
He noted that merely constructing healthcare facilities across federal, state, and local levels is insufficient. According to him, the real solution lies in equipping these centers with modern tools and ensuring healthcare personnel are well-compensated.
While commending Governor Lawal for his commitment to healthcare development through the hospital upgrade, Obasanjo remarked: “Especially when many Nigerians who have been trained as medical personnel are japaing – which is going out of the country to look for better conditions. But how do you hold them here without giving them a bit of incentive? You have to.
“We need all the personnel that we can have because our hospitals have to deliver. You need the right environment and that is the refurbishing and the renovation but you need the right equipment and then you need the personnel.”I am happy that you have brought them all together and let us make good use of them.”
On his part, outgoing President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, also raised alarm over the consequences of the mass exodus of Nigeria’s youthful population.
During a recent engagement, Adesina highlighted the demographic advantage Africa holds, warning that without deliberate investment in its youth, the continent risks turning its greatest asset into a liability.
“We have over 465 million young people between the ages of 15 and 35,” he said, stressing that Africa’s failure to harness the potential of its young generation could backfire.
“I do not believe that the future of our young people lies in Europe; it doesn’t lie in America, it doesn’t lie in Canada, Japan or China; it should lie in Africa growing well, growing robustly and able to create quality jobs for our young people.”
