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| University of Ilorin Nursing Graduates |
On Wednesday, October 14, 2026, the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) marked a significant professional milestone when 86 nursing graduands—13 males and 73 females—were formally inducted into the nursing profession during the ninth Professional Induction and Admission Ceremony of its Department of Nursing Science. Held at the University Auditorium in Ilorin, Kwara State, the event was more than a ritual of certificates and oaths. It became a pointed platform for a national conversation that has grown increasingly urgent: whether Nigeria can retain the healthcare professionals its universities train, or whether the “japa” phenomenon will continue to hollow out the country’s health system.
Representing the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Moji Taibat Bakare-Odunola, delivered a clear charge. The new nurses were urged to resist the temptation to leave Nigeria for employment opportunities abroad and instead deploy their expertise to strengthen the country’s healthcare delivery. They were called upon to uphold the highest standards of professionalism, demonstrate compassion in patient care, and serve as worthy ambassadors of the university’s “Better by Far” brand. Nigeria, the message underscored, needs their skills now more than ever.
This appeal is neither isolated nor new. Similar exhortations have echoed at induction ceremonies across Nigerian universities in recent years, including previous UNILORIN events and parallel ceremonies at institutions such as Osun State University on the same day. What gives the latest call particular resonance is the scale of the challenge it confronts.
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The Scale of the Exodus
“Japa”—the Yoruba slang for emigration that has entered national lexicon—has become a defining feature of Nigeria’s health sector. Data from the UK’s Nursing and Midwifery Council show that 16,156 Nigerian-educated nurses and midwives were on its register as of 30 September 2025, up from 15,421 just six months earlier. Nigeria ranks among the top sources of foreign-trained nurses in the United Kingdom, behind only the Philippines and India. Broader estimates paint an even starker picture: the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives has reported that more than 57,000 Nigerian nurses left the country over a five-year period ending around late 2025, while other analyses place losses between 2020 and 2025 in the region of 50,000.
The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare’s 2025 statistics indicated that 43,221 health workers—including doctors, nurses, pharmacists and laboratory scientists—departed between 2023 and 2024 alone, with more than 23,000 of them nurses and midwives. Preferred destinations include the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Ireland. The consequences are measurable. Nigeria’s nurse-to-population ratio has been cited at approximately one to 2,000, far below World Health Organization recommendations, while the doctor-to-population ratio hovers around one to 5,000 or worse in practical assessments.
These numbers translate into overstretched wards, longer patient waits, higher workloads for those who remain, and rising healthcare costs as facilities compete to retain scarce talent. Rural and primary healthcare centres feel the strain most acutely. The migration also represents a fiscal paradox: public resources train professionals whose services are then captured by richer countries.
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Why Nurses Leave—and Why Appeals Alone Fall Short
Push factors are well documented and stubborn. Remuneration lags far behind international peers.
Working conditions often involve inadequate staffing, unreliable equipment, power shortages and personal insecurity. Career progression can be slow or opaque. For many young graduates, the prospect of better pay, modern facilities, professional development and personal safety abroad is compelling. Surveys have repeatedly shown high intentions among medical and nursing students to seek opportunities outside Nigeria.
Pull factors are equally strong. Destination countries face their own shortages and actively recruit. Structured pathways, higher salaries (often several times Nigerian levels) and clearer advancement opportunities make the calculation rational for individual professionals—even as the collective impact on Nigeria’s health system is severe.
Professor Egbewole’s appeal correctly emphasises national need and professional responsibility. New nurses enter the profession at a moment when their skills are in high demand at home. Internship and National Youth Service obligations already require a period of domestic service. Ethical practice, compassion and continuous learning remain non-negotiable foundations of nursing, whether practised in Ilorin, Lagos or London.
Yet institutional appeals, however well-intentioned, confront structural realities. Retention ultimately depends on creating an environment in which skilled professionals can build meaningful careers without sacrificing economic security or personal safety.
Competitive and predictable remuneration, safe workplaces, functional equipment, funded postgraduate training, clear career pathways and reduced bureaucratic friction in hiring are repeatedly identified by professional associations and policy analysts as essential. Some government responses—expanded training slots, recruitment drives in federal tertiary institutions and a National Policy on Health Workforce Migration—signal recognition of the problem. Results, however, remain incomplete.
UNILORIN’s Contribution and the Broader Institutional Role
The University of Ilorin’s Department of Nursing Science has steadily expanded its contribution. The 2026 cohort of 86 follows earlier groups; the previous year saw 89 inductees. The department has maintained strong performance in Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria examinations and has graduated hundreds of nurses since its establishment. These induction ceremonies serve dual purposes: formal recognition of professional readiness and public reinforcement of values—service, integrity, compassion—that the profession claims as its core.
Professor Egbewole, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and academic lawyer who has led the university since 2022, has consistently framed institutional outputs in terms of national contribution. His administration has pursued infrastructure upgrades, research support and quality assurance. The nursing induction message fits this pattern: universities train talent; society must create conditions that keep that talent productive at home.
A More Nuanced Path Forward
The conversation needs to move beyond binary framing—“stay or leave.” Temporary migration for specialised training, structured return schemes, diaspora engagement through telemedicine or short-term clinical visits, and bilateral agreements that require destination countries to support training capacity in source countries all offer intermediate options. Expanding production of nurses is necessary but insufficient if retention remains weak; simply training more people for export does not solve domestic shortages.
For the 86 new UNILORIN nurses, the immediate future involves internship, supervised practice and the realities of Nigerian clinical settings. Their choices in the coming years will be shaped by both personal ambition and the policy environment they encounter. Professional associations, hospital managements, state and federal governments, and training institutions all share responsibility for narrowing the gap between the rhetoric of retention and the lived experience of practice.
The induction ceremony at Ilorin was a celebration of achievement and a reminder of obligation. It also illuminated a larger structural question that Nigeria has yet to resolve: how to convert public investment in human capital into sustained domestic capacity.
Until remuneration, working conditions and career prospects improve meaningfully, calls to “resist japa” will continue to compete with powerful individual incentives. Strengthening Nigeria’s healthcare system requires both the professional commitment urged by the Vice-Chancellor and the systemic reforms that make staying a viable, attractive choice.
Samuel O. Sulaimon is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Naijapiz. He covers News, Sports, Finance, Faiths, Education, Politics and Technology.
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