MHWUN laments brain drain says 26,715 Nigerian health workers seek greener pastures in the UK

The Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) has said that available records from the British government showed that a total of 18,224 Nigerian health workers were granted visas by the United Kingdom in one year. It said that the worrisome brain drains in the country ‘s health sector was alarming. According to the union, Nigeria presently tops the list of emigrant health workers in Africa as the number of Nigerians under the health and care skilled work visa had risen by 215 percent (18,224), from 8,491 in 2022 to 26,715 at the end of 2023. Quoting the figures from the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), the National President of MHWUN Kabiru Minjibir, also said that about 75,000 nurses from Nigeria had left the shores of the country to practice their trade in the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and others between 2017 and 2023.