Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu, has urged Nigerian medical practitioners in the diaspora to come back to the country to serve Nigerians and contribute their quota to the development of Nigeria’s medical sector.
Tinubu made the call at the unveiling of Nigeria’s Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative at the State House, Abuja recently.
He described health as a fundamental human right and announced plans for a comprehensive revamp of physical infrastructure, and equipment and the re-training of frontline health workers commencing in 2024.
The President bragged that Nigeria remained a rallying point for sound minds in the medical profession, prompting his administration to allocate a substantial sum for the sector in the 2024 budget currently before the National Assembly. He later urged Nigerian medical practitioners in the diaspora to return home to serve their people.
He said: “We encourage those Nigerian health professionals in the Diaspora, just like Professor Ali Pate and Tunji Alausa have done, to sacrifice their time to come back home and serve their people. Consider your contributions here at home, as we say, ‘Charity begins at home’.
“For the developed countries who benefited from amazing talents of Nigerian health workers, we’ll really encourage them to consider how to support the expansion of training facilities in Nigeria to replace those that they have recruited from here. You should also look at the short and long-term opportunities that we offer.
“Yes, we have a vibrant, well-educated society, but we need Nigeria to rise on one side with climate change and drop the health system to decay. We will rise.”
