Nigeria considers law that would prevent doctors from leaving for five years after training

Doctors’ groups in Nigeria have condemned a bill before Congress that would deny newly qualified doctors a full Nigerian medical licence until they have worked for five years in the country.

The country’s health system is under pressure from an accelerating brain drain that saw nearly 4% of its registered doctors depart last year—almost half of them to the UK.

Educated Nigerians have historically emigrated in large numbers, but the country’s recent economic troubles and growing insecurity have given new impetus to the trend now commonly known as “japa,” a Yoruba word for fleeing or moving to greener pastures. The proportion of Nigerians willing to relocate abroad rose from 32% in 2019 to 73% in 2021, according to one survey.1 In 2022, the number of Nigerians granted work visas in the UK doubled to 34 133 people, of whom 932 were doctors. The General Medical Council is aware of 7875 Nigerian doctors currently practising …