Nigeria’s Nursing Crisis: A Workforce Planning Failure
For years, the Nigerian government has repeatedly stated that the country faces a severe shortage of nurses. However, thousands of qualified nursing graduates remain unemployed despite the continuous production of new graduates every six months. Nursing shortage in Nigeria is a false narrative. This contradiction points not to an actual shortage of nurses but rather to a systemic failure in workforce planning, regulation, and employment strategies within the healthcare sector.
The Employment Gap: A Reality Check
While Nigeria trains a significant number of nurses annually, many remain jobless due to the government’s failure to integrate them into the health system. The professional nursing associations and regulatory bodies, such as National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) and the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN), have also failed to provide accurate employment data. Without real-time statistics on employed and unemployed nurses, workforce planning remains ineffective. The government continues to assume a shortage while competent graduates struggle to find jobs.
Accreditation of Substandard Nursing Schools: A Growing Concern
Rather than addressing the employment crisis, more private nursing schools are being accredited, many of which fail to meet professional standards. This influx of poorly trained nurses risks lowering the quality of healthcare delivery. The focus should shift toward strengthening existing institutions, ensuring degree programs become the minimum standard, and improving training quality rather than increasing the quantity of graduates without a structured employment strategy.
Bridging the Gap with Data and Strategic Workforce Planning
Nigeria needs a structured approach to workforce planning based on real data. The government, in collaboration with nursing associations, must conduct a comprehensive audit of practicing, unemployed, and migrating nurses. By aligning workforce numbers with actual demand, Nigeria can properly distribute nurses where they are needed the most.
Additionally, the country must adopt a well-defined nurse-to-patient ratio to determine real staffing needs. This will not only help allocate resources efficiently but also reduce job stagnation among graduates. Any surplus of nurses after this rationing can be strategically deployed for international employment through partnerships with countries facing genuine shortages, such as the UK, Canada, and the US. Such collaborations can serve as a source of revenue for Nigeria while addressing global nursing shortages.
A Call for Policy Reform
The so-called nursing shortage in Nigeria is more a failure of governance than an actual lack of trained professionals. Instead of licensing more substandard nursing schools, Nigeria must enforce higher educational standards and establish structured employment pathways. The nursing profession must be valued, and employment opportunities must align with the actual demand for healthcare workers.
It is time for the government, professional bodies, and regulatory agencies to embrace evidence-based workforce planning, address the employment gap, and ensure that Nigeria’s qualified nurses are effectively utilized to strengthen the healthcare system. The solution is not in producing more nurses but in efficiently employing the ones already available.
Written by Nr. Reuben Zirahgi Markus
