Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said medical personnel, including doctors and nurses, trained in Nigeria must be motivated with the right work conditions to remain in the country and not migrate overseas.
Obasanjo stated this when he commissioned the renovated and rehabilitated Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital in Zamfara State yesterday.
Recall that most doctors and nurses have been leaving the country in droves in search of greener pastures, with the accompanying brain drain affecting public hospitals nationwide.
The former president, who was invited by Zamfara State, governor, Dauda Lawal, lamented the migration phenomenon, known as ‘Japa’, which had been popularised by Nigerian youths leaving the country for economic prosperity and job security in faraway Europe, the Americas, Asia and other parts of the world.
The octogenarian said it was not enough for the governments at federal, sub-national and local levels to build health centres, but must provide the necessary equipment and remuneration to incentivise health workers.
Obasanjo commended Lawal for the renovation of the hospital, “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 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.”
Also recall that the outgoing President of African Development Bank, AfDB, Akinwumi Adesina, had also lamented the migration phenomenon, known as ‘Japa’ in Nigeria, saying it was a big loss for Nigeria and the African continent.
“We have over 465 million young people between the ages of 15 and 35,” he said, warning that Africa should not turn what should be its demographic asset into “somebody else’s problem” due to the inability to believe in young people and invest in their ideas for continental prosperity.
“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,” he had said.
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