UNILAG VC Urges Nigerian Doctors to Build Successful Careers at Home as Brain Drain Deepens!
Nigeria’s medical professionals do not necessarily have to leave the country to build successful and fulfilling careers, University of Lagos Vice-Chancellor, Professor Folasade Ogunsola, has said, urging doctors and other health professionals to look beyond opportunities abroad and recognise the possibilities available within Nigeria.
Ogunsola’s position comes against the backdrop of persistent concern over the migration of Nigerian doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers to countries offering higher remuneration, improved working conditions, stronger professional infrastructure and clearer career pathways.
The UNILAG vice-chancellor has argued that Nigeria still offers substantial opportunities for professionals who are prepared to innovate, develop expertise and contribute to solving the country’s healthcare challenges.
Her position is not, however, an argument that the difficulties facing Nigeria’s health workforce should be ignored. In separate remarks reported in June 2026, Ogunsola called on the Federal Government to create a more conducive environment for healthcare professionals, highlighting the need for improved welfare, working conditions, facilities and security.
The contrast is important. While encouraging Nigerian doctors to see possibilities at home, the university administrator has also acknowledged that retaining highly trained professionals requires deliberate investment in the health system.
Ogunsola: Nigeria has opportunities for medical professionals
Ogunsola has consistently encouraged Nigerian health professionals to consider how their expertise can be deployed to address challenges at home rather than viewing migration as the only route to professional success.
In a 2023 address to clinical scientists at a University of Lagos conference, she urged Nigerian experts to look beyond the attractions of overseas opportunities and contribute to addressing critical healthcare needs in Nigeria and Africa. She also encouraged greater investment in research and collaboration among African professionals.
The message reflects a broader argument that professional success should not be measured exclusively by relocation to Europe, North America or other developed economies.
For Nigeria, retaining doctors is particularly important because the country already faces significant gaps in healthcare personnel. Every doctor who leaves potentially represents years of public and private investment in medical education that are no longer directly available to the Nigerian health system.
The challenge therefore extends beyond individual career choices. It touches on healthcare access, medical training, public health capacity and the country’s ability to provide specialist services to a growing population.
Brain drain remains a major challenge
The migration of Nigerian healthcare workers has become one of the country’s most persistent policy concerns.
Doctors and other professionals frequently cite inadequate remuneration, difficult working conditions, shortages of medical equipment, insecurity, limited opportunities for career advancement and concerns about the wider economic environment among the factors influencing decisions to seek employment abroad.
For many young Nigerian doctors, migration can provide access to better-equipped hospitals, structured residency programmes, research opportunities and comparatively stronger compensation.
The resulting movement of health professionals has generated concern among medical associations, policymakers, academics and healthcare administrators.
Ogunsola’s intervention therefore arrives at a complicated point in the debate. Encouraging doctors to remain in Nigeria may be desirable from a national-development perspective, but professionals also expect the country to provide an environment in which they can realistically build sustainable careers.
That is why the UNILAG vice-chancellor’s broader comments about government responsibility are significant.
In June, The Nation reported that Ogunsola called for the creation of a more conducive environment for healthcare workers, warning that continued migration of skilled personnel could threaten Nigeria’s health system. The report said she advocated better welfare packages, improved working conditions, modern facilities and enhanced security.
The Guardian Nigeria similarly reported that Ogunsola urged the Federal Government to address insecurity and improve conditions for healthcare professionals.
‘Go, but come back’ — an alternative to permanent migration
Ogunsola’s position is perhaps better understood as an argument for professional mobility without permanent disengagement from Nigeria.
In her 2023 address, she told clinical scientists to “go but come back to fix Africa’s challenges,” stressing that international exposure could be valuable if professionals eventually used their knowledge and experience to strengthen healthcare and research in Nigeria and across the continent.
Such an approach recognises that international experience can benefit Nigerian professionals.
Doctors who train or work abroad may acquire specialist expertise, gain exposure to advanced technologies, participate in international research and establish professional networks that can subsequently benefit Nigeria.
The challenge is ensuring that migration does not become a one-way process in which the country continually loses its most experienced professionals.
A system that encourages temporary international exposure, professional collaboration and eventual return could potentially produce a different outcome from permanent emigration.
UNILAG seeks to expand medical training
The University of Lagos itself is attempting to increase the number of healthcare professionals it produces.
BusinessDay reported in April 2026 that Ogunsola said UNILAG had an ambition to produce as many as 1,000 doctors annually. She linked the expansion to the need for adequate infrastructure because increasing the number of healthcare workers requires sufficient facilities to train them safely and effectively.
The proposed expansion illustrates one of the central challenges facing Nigeria.
Producing more doctors is necessary, but numbers alone cannot resolve the country’s healthcare workforce crisis. Medical education requires hospitals, laboratories, teaching staff, specialist supervisors, equipment and adequate funding.
There must also be sufficient employment opportunities after graduation.
If Nigeria increases the number of doctors it trains but fails to create attractive working environments, a larger proportion of those graduates could eventually seek opportunities elsewhere.
The issue, therefore, is not simply how many doctors Nigeria produces. It is also whether the country can retain, motivate and properly deploy them.
Building opportunities beyond clinical practice
Ogunsola’s argument also points to the changing nature of the medical profession.
Doctors can build careers not only through conventional hospital practice but also through research, medical technology, entrepreneurship, public health, academia, health administration and specialised clinical services.
Nigeria’s large population creates significant demand for healthcare solutions, while persistent gaps in healthcare delivery provide opportunities for innovation.
Digital health platforms, telemedicine, diagnostics, pharmaceutical research, medical education and healthcare financing are among areas where professionals can potentially build careers while contributing to the country’s development.
Ogunsola has herself combined clinical medicine, research and academic leadership. According to the American Society for Microbiology, she is a professor of clinical microbiology and has worked extensively in infectious-disease research, antimicrobial resistance, HIV and tuberculosis prevention, while also contributing to international health initiatives.
Her career illustrates the broader possibilities available to Nigerian medical professionals who pursue academic, research and institutional pathways alongside clinical practice.
The responsibility cannot rest with doctors alone
While Ogunsola’s message places emphasis on the choices of individual professionals, reversing brain drain ultimately requires action from multiple stakeholders.
Doctors cannot be expected to remain solely on the basis of patriotism if the professional environment makes it difficult to provide safe and effective care.
Government has a role in improving remuneration, infrastructure, security and healthcare financing. Hospitals need functioning equipment and adequate staffing. Universities and teaching hospitals require resources for training and research. Professional bodies have responsibilities in maintaining standards and advocating for their members.
Private-sector investment can also contribute to expanding opportunities for medical professionals.
The challenge is therefore a shared one.
A doctor deciding to remain in Nigeria should be able to see a realistic path toward professional growth, financial stability, specialist development and meaningful contribution to society.
That requires more than motivational speeches. It requires policies and investments that make staying professionally viable.
A difficult balance between patriotism and professional ambition
The debate over Nigerian doctors leaving the country is often framed as a choice between patriotism and personal ambition. The reality is considerably more complicated.
Healthcare professionals have legitimate aspirations for better careers and living standards. At the same time, Nigeria has a legitimate national interest in retaining the skilled professionals it spends years training.
The solution must therefore seek a balance between individual freedom and national healthcare needs.
Ogunsola’s call for doctors to recognise opportunities in Nigeria contributes another dimension to that debate. Her message is that professional fulfilment does not automatically require relocation, while her separate calls for improved working conditions acknowledge that Nigeria must create an environment capable of retaining its healthcare workforce.
For WengGlobal, the central issue is therefore not whether Nigerian doctors should travel abroad. International education, training and collaboration can be beneficial. The more pressing question is whether Nigeria can create conditions that make returning, remaining or investing professional expertise at home an attractive choice.
The future of Nigeria’s healthcare system will depend heavily on the answer.
As UNILAG works to expand medical training and the government faces continuing pressure to address healthcare workforce shortages, retaining the doctors Nigeria already has will remain as important as producing new ones.
Ogunsola’s message ultimately represents a call for Nigerian medical professionals to look beyond the assumption that success exists only overseas — but it also places an implicit responsibility on institutions and government to ensure that the opportunities she describes are real, sustainable and accessible.
Nigeria may indeed be full of opportunities. The critical task is to build a healthcare environment in which doctors can confidently pursue those opportunities without having to choose between professional success and remaining at home.
Sources
- The Nation Newspaper — Coverage of Prof. Folasade Ogunsola’s call for government to create a conducive environment for healthcare workers and address the consequences of health-worker migration.
- The Guardian Nigeria — Report on Ogunsola’s call for improved healthcare-worker conditions and action on insecurity.
- BusinessDay — Report on UNILAG’s ambition to produce up to 1,000 doctors annually and the infrastructure required to expand medical training.
- University of Lagos — Official account of Ogunsola’s 2023 call for clinical scientists to gain expertise and return to help address Africa’s challenges.
- American Society for Microbiology (ASM) — Professional biography documenting Ogunsola’s medical, academic, research and international public-health work.
- Times Higher Education — Profile examining Ogunsola’s views on Nigerian universities, funding and the country’s brain-drain challenge.
