Mirian Gom 
Doctors at a public hospital in Nigeria. Experts warn that Nigeria’s medical workforce shortage is at crisis levels. (File Photo)
LAGOS, Nigeria – Nigeria faces a deepening health workforce crisis that could take a century to resolve if current training and funding levels do not change, former Chief Medical Director of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Professor Akin Osibogun, has warned.
Speaking today at the opening of the 2025 Physicians’ Week organised by the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) Lagos State Branch, Osibogun said Nigeria requires at least 360,000 doctors to meet its population’s health needs, yet only 55,000 are currently registered, with many practising abroad.
He described the shortage as a national emergency that demands urgent and large-scale investment.
“At the present rate of producing around 3,000 doctors a year, it will take Nigeria 100 years to close this gap,” he said. “We must train more and retain more. The health sector cannot survive on goodwill alone.”
Osibogun called for a minimum of $1 billion in targeted funding to expand medical training capacity, upgrade infrastructure, and improve incentives to stop the relentless migration of health professionals.
He argued that the health sector, if properly funded, could contribute up to 15 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP, drive job creation, and boost productivity across all sectors.
“Health is wealth. Every investment in healthcare strengthens the economy. A healthy population works, produces, and innovates,” he said.
Earlier, Chairman of the Local Organising Committee, Dr Akinsurile Bisoye, said the Physicians’ Week theme — Healthcare as a Value Chain: Building Efficiency from Policy to Patient — underscores the urgent need to improve continuity between health policy and implementation.
“Policies exist, but policies without execution are promises on paper,” he said.
Osibogun added that without stronger funding, better training systems, and incentives for medical educators, Nigeria risks deepening the cycle of disease, poverty, and preventable deaths.
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Oluwatobi Adu 
Hussaini Ibrahim 
Otamere Gladness