Nigeria’s Health Sector Subjected to “years of neglect by government”: Catholic Archbishop Decries Human Capital Flight

According to the Local Ordinary of Abuja Archdiocese since November 2019, “Poor people die on a daily basis because they could not access good and qualitative health care in Nigeria.”

He urged the government to set up an enabling environment that will attract Nigerian-born medical doctors abroad to return home and use their skills for the growth and development of the health sector.

“Imagine if all these doctors were to come back to Nigeria; it will make a lot of difference in our health sector,” he said, and added, “Let's hope that the government of Bola Tinubu will do everything possible to provide the enabling environment to attract doctors to return home.”

“These gifts that God has given us in human resources, let us use it to the growth of our health sector and to help the poor and humanity,” Archbishop Kaigama further said. 

The 65-year-old Catholic Church leader, who started his Episcopal Ministry in April 1995 as Bishop of Nigeria’s Jalingo Diocese also faulted the government for failing to address the plight of the poor in Africa’s most populous nation. 

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“Poverty is something we should look at very seriously. Every day, people bombard us with requests for help. We end up carrying the burden that the government should carry. People cannot approach government offices, so they end up coming to the church, to our offices, because we are open,” he said.

The Catholic Church leader highlighted the challenges bedevilling the people of God in Nigeria, saying, “People are hungry. They need to go to the hospital. Some of their legs need to be amputated. They need blood donation. They need this and that and they don’t have, so the Church becomes the last hope for them.”

Archbishop Kaigama called upon the Nigerian government to “make palliatives available for those in need” as one way of addressing poverty in the West African nation.

Abah Anthony John is a Nigerian Journalist with great enthusiasm and interest for Catholic Church Communication and Media Apostolate. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Mass Communication from Benue State University, Makurdi, Benue State Nigeria. He has vast experience in Print,  Electronic and Multi-Media Production.