N3 Million Monthly Salary for Nigerian Doctors Who Relocate To Sierra Leone and Gambia, More Are Leaving Daily

N3 Million Monthly Salary for Nigerian Doctors Who Relocate To Sierra Leone and Gambia, More Are Leaving Daily

  • A Nigerian man in charge of federal tertiary hospitals told a committee that Nigerian doctors were leaving for other African countries that paid them four times more
  • They said the health sector was in crisis due to manpower shortages, frequent strikes, and unimplemented agreements
  • The committee chairman urged the doctors to be patriotic and cooperate with the government to improve the health sector

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A committee probing employment racketeering in federal government agencies heard shocking revelations from the heads of health institutions on Thursday.

The Chairman of the Committee of Chief Medical Directors of Federal Tertiary Hospitals, Emem Bassey, said that many Nigerian doctors were leaving the country for other African countries like Sierra Leone and Gambia, where they were offered salaries ranging from N3 million and above.

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Photo of Nigeria doctors and aerial view of Gambia
Aerial view of Gambia as well as female doctors. For illustration purposes only. Depicted person has no relationship to events described in this material. Photo credit: Getty Images
Source: Getty Images

He said this was about four times what they earned in Nigeria.

Nigerians relocating to Sierra Leone and Gambia

Bassey, also the CMD of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, said the health sector was facing a major crisis of manpower shortage, as health professionals of all categories were migrating to countries with better working conditions and remuneration.

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He said the government had failed to implement the agreements it reached with the doctors and other health workers, leading to frequent strikes and dissatisfaction.

He also said that getting waivers to recruit new staff was a tortuous process that often violated the federal character principle.

He appealed to the committee to intervene and address the health sector's challenges, especially regarding human resources and infrastructure.

The Chairman of the Ad hoc Committee, Yusuf Gagdi, expressed concern over the lack of patriotism among some Nigerian doctors who preferred to work abroad rather than serve their own country, Dailytrust reported.

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He said the committee was aware of Nigeria's lack of advanced medical facilities and would work towards improving them.

Medical Doctor meets his secondary school teacher during graduation

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that a man became emotional when his secondary school teacher attended his graduation ceremony.

In a tweet on April 26, the man identified as @kxmdyy said the teacher's name was Aunty Foly.

The young man disclosed that he was graduating from medical school when the woman surprised him with her attendance.

Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
Basit Jamiu avatar

Basit Jamiu (Editor) Basit Jamiu is a journalist with more than five years of experience. He is a current affairs and politics editor at Legit.ng. He holds a bachelor's degree from Ekiti State University (2018). Basit previously worked as a staff writer at Ikeja Bird (2022), Associate Editor at Prime Progress (2022), and Staff Writer at The Movee (2018). He is a 2024 Open Climate Fellow (West Africa), 2023 MTN Media Fellow, OCRP Fellow at ICIR, and Accountability Fellow at CJID. Email: basit.jamiu@corp.legit.ng.