Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The federal government yesterday launched an initiative aimed at harnessing the potential of diaspora health professionals to help improve and strengthen the country’s healthcare delivery.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, who disclosed this in Abuja, said the aim is to rally Nigerian professionals abroad to support healthcare services in the country’s tertiary health institutions.
Under the initiative known as Nigerians in Diaspora Advance Health Programme (NiDAH-P), the government seeks to encourage skilled professionals to provide specialised services, strengthen residency training programmes, expand opportunities for continuing professional development and build enduring partnerships between local institutions and global Nigerian expertise.
According to Pate, NiDAH-P which is commences with 19 federal tertiary health institutions across the country will be implemented in three phases involving foundation and setup, pilot implementation and scale-up and evaluation.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Daju Kachallom, the minister said though before now, Nigerian health professionals abroad have been contributing to the improvement of the health sector but that there was little or no coordination of these interventions.
He said what gave rise to the present initiative was the need to coordinate such interventions to ensure maximal benefits for the country.
‘Today’s launch is one practical expression of that approach. For many years, discussions about Nigeria’s health workforce have been framed largely around one phrase, brain drain. The loss is real and we do not diminish it but it is not the whole story.
“There is a simple idea at the heart of this programme which is migration. Migration left alone is a loss but migration given direction becomes circulation.
“What has been missing is a national mechanism that connects that commitment to institutional priorities that supports sustained collaboration and enables its impact to be measured, strengthened and sustained over time.
“This is the gap NiDAH-P has been designed to fill and on the 25th of July, in collaboration with the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), we will commence the Diaspora Health Impact Initiative as part of National Diaspora Day 2026.
“Through this initiative we aim to support specialized services, strengthen residency training programs, expand opportunities for continuing professional development and build enduring partnerships between local institutions and global Nigerian expertise,” he said.
While explaining the operations of the initiative, a Director at the ministry, Dr. Nwakaego Chukwukaodinaka, said the programme aims at connecting Diaspora doctors, nurses, pharmacists and allied health professionals Nigerian health institutions through short-term clinical placement, sabbatical engagements and virtual mentorship, enabling direct patient care, capacity building and skills transfer in priority special areas.
She said the scheme operates through a digital portal registers, verifies and matches diaspora volunteers with facility needs, supported by real-time dashboard for coordination and oversight by the Project Project Management Unit
Representative of NIDCOM, assured that the commission is ready to manage the migration of health workers with a view to turning brain drain into brain gain for Nigeria.
The Chairman of the Guide of Chief Medical Directors of Federal Tertiary hospitals, Prof. Sahad Ahmed, also expressed the readiness of the management of the hospitals to ensure the success of NiDAH-P.