Nigeria Renews AHWFI Commitment, Urges Coordinated Health Workforce Mobility Pact
By Our Health Correspondent
Nigeria has reaffirmed its readiness to implement the Africa Health Workforce Investment (AHWFI) Charter, pledging to demonstrate that commitment through policy reforms, investment, and accountability.
Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, made the declaration while delivering opening remarks at the 2nd Africa Health Workforce Investment Forum, held from May 6 to 8, 2026, at the Accra Marriott Hotel in Accra.
Salako stressed the need for increased investment to strengthen Africa’s health workforce, describing financing gaps as one of the most critical barriers to achieving Universal Health Coverage. He noted that although Africa’s health worker density rose from 11 per 10,000 population in 2013 to 27 per 10,000 in 2024, the continent is still projected to face a shortfall of 6.1 million health workers by 2030 if current trends continue.
Highlighting Nigeria’s commitments, the minister said that in August 2024, the Federal Government approved the National Policy on Health Workforce Migration. He described it as a landmark framework built around ethical recruitment, bilateral agreements, diaspora engagement, retention incentives, and rural deployment.
According to him, the policy is designed to address the growing migration of health workers and aligns with the World Health Organization Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel.
Salako further disclosed that under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria launched the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, targeting about $900 million in health system investments between 2024 and 2026. The initiative focuses on rebuilding primary healthcare infrastructure, expanding training capacity, and deploying community health workers nationwide.
He added that Nigeria has completed the National Health Workforce Country Profile and established the National Health Workforce Registry with technical support from the World Health Organization. A Health Labour Market Analysis is also underway to guide Nigeria’s investment compact under the AHWFI Charter.
The minister said training quotas have been increased across health training institutions to close workforce gaps. He added that more than 70,000 frontline health workers have been retrained toward a target of 120,000 under the primary healthcare workforce strengthening initiative.
On health workforce migration, Nigeria called for a new compact on workforce mobility built around managed migration agreements with clear terms and measurable performance indicators. Salako said destination countries should make structured investments in the training of health workers in source countries such as Nigeria.
He argued that the current model—where low-income countries invest heavily in training health professionals while high-income countries benefit from their migration—is neither sustainable nor equitable.
Nigeria also proposed structured bilateral and multilateral agreements that would include compensation for source countries, joint training programmes, managed circular migration pathways that allow health workers to gain international experience and return with enhanced skills, and targeted investments in health training infrastructure in countries of origin.
As part of broader accountability measures, Nigeria called for an annual report on each country’s graduate-to-employment ratio under a standardized Africa Health Workforce Scorecard.
Speaking on broader challenges facing Africa’s health sector, Salako said the continent’s financing landscape is undergoing a profound structural shift. He noted that Overseas Development Assistance declined by an estimated 70 per cent between 2021 and 2025. He also pointed to 27 per cent unemployment among skilled health professionals despite workforce shortages, a 41 per cent increase in public health emergencies between 2022 and 2024, and Africa’s continued burden of roughly 25 per cent of global disease cases.
To address the 27 per cent unemployment rate among qualified health workers, the minister said Africa would require a 43 per cent increase in employment investment. He also urged African countries to meet the 15 per cent target of the Abuja Declaration, noting that only Rwanda, Botswana, and Cabo Verde have so far attained the benchmark.
