Beyond Doctors: Why Engineers, Lecturers, Tech Experts are Relocating to UK, US, Canada (Check the Most Hit Profession)

Almost every day, professionals across Nigeria are relocating outside the country. Doctors, engineers, pharmacists, nurses, lecturers, ICT professionals, are moving to countries where they believe they can actualize their life dreams. Although many get trained in Nigeria, a lot of factors combine to compel them to exit the country. Their departure has been a burden to the country but it has remained unstoppable to the Nigerian government.

The highest number of professionals leaving Nigeria for the United Kingdom, United States and Canada are doctors, nurses and pharmacists who make up the health profession. Over the past 20 years, reports say not less than 19,000 doctors have exited the country.

According to the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), about 18,949 doctors left Nigeria over the past 20 years. Further reports estimate that 4,193 doctors and dentists departed the country in 2024. This report is from the federal ministry of health.

In another report by the federal ministry of health, it says a combination of nurses, pharmacists, doctors, laboratory scientists, making a total of 43,221 left Nigeria between 2023 and 2024.

There are also reports revealing that academics and lecturers are also migrating from Nigeria. Although there are no official figures for academics, Nigerian university authorities have repeatedly raised alarm over losing academics to high profile universities in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and the Saudi Arabia.

In the same vein, Nigerian engineering bodies have acknowledged increasing departure of engineering professionals to the United kingdom, the Middle East and Canada. While there are no verified figure of these professionals, it is believed that their migration out of Nigeria is telling on the engineering profession in the most populous country in Africa.

This massive exodus of professionals from Nigeria to the Western world is reportedly fueled by poor welfare for professionals and poor infrastructure in the country. Compared to countries they are relocating to, Nigeria leaders have one of the poorest welfare package for professionals who spend years and funds for their training and knowledge acquisition.

The migration of Nigerian professionals which include doctors, nurses, ICT professionals, engineers and other specialists has been disturbing to the country. Most of these engineers, software developers, are some of the biggest contributors to the big success stories of their host countries.

The migration of these professionals has had devastating effect on Nigeria. To a very great extent, it has crippled Nigeria's healthcare delivery. With not less than 40 percent of Nigerian doctors working in the United kingdom and others, the doctor to patient ratio in Nigeria has been badly affected. The World Health Organization policy is one doctor per 600 person but due to the high rate of Nigerian doctors moving abroad, it's about one doctor to 9000 Nigerian patients.

Due to lower number of medical professionals left in the country, they are heavily overburdened by the workload in the hospitals. They are faced with extreme burnout, making them to work longer than necessary. This is due to shortage of manpower in the hospitals.

The migration of tech, software developers and ICT experts to the UK and US, also has ripple effect on local banking, fintech, startups, and Nigerian telecom firms that need experienced hands to operate the organizations to greater success. This is why these companies experience persistent system down times and disruptions in their service delivery.

In the university sector, the mass exodus of qualified lecturers has left the higher institutions under-staffed with the requisite qualified academics to run the institutions so as to produce better qraduates to help in the economic development of the country. This has added to the reduced global ranking of Nigerian universities.

One of the painful part of the academic exodus is the subsidy Nigeria government pays to subsidise education in the country. While the government spends billions in the form of subventions, grants through ETF, even the ongoing Nigeria Education Loan Funds, and other subsidies for smooth administration of the institutions, the graduates peak productive years are inherited by richer western universities.

However, in the midst of the brain drain in Nigeria, there's still a silver lining. This is the remittance inflow into Nigeria. Report says not less than 20billion dollars flow into the country annually from transfer channels that serve as lifeline for families, funding local real estates, basic healthcare, retail businesses and others. Amidst all these, economists believe that money transfers cannot replace the physical contribution of these professionals to the economy and healthcare system of the country.