Paying for Them to Leave

$336m lost as 16,000 doctors leave, Head of Service admits PFIPC failure, Dangote pledges $6bn, Tyla concert goes on.

Good morning,

A doctor trained in Nigeria costs the state $21,000. Over 16,000 of them have left in the past five to seven years. That is over $336 million in public financing walking out the door. The doctor-to-population ratio now stands at 3.9 per 10,000 citizens, perilously below WHO standards. We are exporting our most critical human capital while hospital wards remain empty. A paediatrician in Kano dismissed the government’s new policy framework as bureaucratic window dressing. She said her colleagues are leaving because a single month’s salary in the UK covers a year of earnings in Nigeria. The state is subsidising the healthcare systems of the UK, Canada and Saudi Arabia. We are paying for them to leave.

While doctors flee, the Head of Service has admitted that her office failed to vet the fake PFIPC. Didi Walson-Jack told the House Committee that her office relied on documents presented by the organisation without independently verifying their authenticity. She acknowledged that more thorough checks should have been conducted. The fake agency secured a ₦1.3 billion budget allocation because no one checked. That is not a clerical error. That is a systemic failure.

But there is a ray of sunshine. Aliko Dangote has announced plans to pledge one-third of his net worth, an estimated $6 billion, to charitable initiatives across Africa. His daughter Fatima revealed the endowment will focus on healthcare access, vocational education and malnutrition reduction. It is one of the largest philanthropic commitments in African history. The government is watching. The question is whether it will complement private philanthropy with public investment, or simply leave the burden to billionaires.

And the Dangote Refinery is central to the government’s $1 trillion economy strategy. Federal officials see domestic refining as the key to reducing foreign exchange expenditure on fuel imports and boosting regional energy exports. The refinery is one of the largest industrial projects in Africa. The question is whether the strategy will work, or whether it will remain a policy document.

Meanwhile, Omoyele Sowore is urging fans not to boycott Tyla’s Lagos concert. The South African Grammy winner is scheduled to perform, and cultural exchange should not be undermined by diplomatic tensions. The show is on. The question is whether the concert will help heal political wounds or remain a flashpoint.

Warmly,

Lolade