The Federal Government has launched the Nigerians in Diaspora Advanced Health Programme (NiDAH-P) and its digital portal to harness the expertise of Nigerian health professionals abroad and strengthen healthcare delivery across the country.
The programme, unveiled in Abuja by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in collaboration with the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) and other stakeholders, is designed to enable Nigerian doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals in the diaspora to contribute to healthcare delivery, medical education, research and specialist services through both physical and virtual engagements.
Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Daju Kachollom, said the initiative mark a shift from lamenting the migration of healthcare workers to creating sustainable structures that reconnect them with Nigeria’s health system.
“What we are doing today is not merely launching a programme or a portal; we are making a statement that Nigeria is ready to move beyond lamenting the departure of our health professionals and is now committed to building the structures that will bring their expertise back in a meaningful, coordinated and sustainable way,” he said.
Pate noted that while many Nigerian health professionals have excelled in leading institutions across the world, the country has continued to grapple with shortages of skilled personnel. He said the NiDAH-P initiative, developed after years of policy work and stakeholder consultations dating back to 2016, draws lessons from countries such as the Philippines, India, Rwanda and Egypt that have successfully institutionalised diaspora engagement in their health sectors.
The minister explained that the programme would also operationalise existing Memoranda of Understanding between the ministry and several diaspora professional associations, including the Medical Association of Nigerians Across Great Britain (MANSAG), the Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas (ANPA), the Canadian Association of Nigerian Physicians and Dentists (CANPAD), the Nigerian Medical Association Germany, the National Association of Nigerian Nurses in North America (NANNNA), and the Nigerian Nurses Charitable Association UK.
He disclosed that the NiDAH digital portal was developed with technical and financial support from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Lafiya Programme, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), and the World Health Organization (WHO), adding that the platform is now ready for use.
Pate commended NiDCOM, led by Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the ministry’s Public-Private Partnership and Diaspora Unit, as well as development partners for supporting the initiative from conception to implementation.
Speaking on behalf of NiDCOM Chairman/CEO, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Commission’s Secretary, Dr. Yakubu Bassi, described NiDAH-P as a strategic intervention aimed at transforming brain drain into brain gain and brain circulation.
She said the programme had been in development for nearly a decade through the efforts of successive ministers, permanent secretaries and other stakeholders, describing its official launch as “history in the making.”
Bassi also invited stakeholders to participate in the National Diaspora Day activities scheduled for July 24 and 25, 2026, in Abuja, with a focus on health sector development.
Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), Prof. Fatima Kyari, said Nigerian-trained doctors continue to earn global recognition for their competence and professionalism and have consistently expressed willingness to contribute to healthcare development at home.
She explained that the council has established mechanisms to support diaspora engagement while safeguarding patient safety, stressing that any doctor providing care to Nigerian patients, whether physically or virtually, must be registered with the MDCN.
Kyari added that the council is collaborating with the Federal Ministries of Health and Education under the Strengthening Collaborations and Advancing Clinical Excellence (SCALE) initiative to deepen partnerships with institutions such as the Royal Colleges in the United Kingdom.
Chairman of the Committee of Chief Medical Directors and Medical Directors of Federal Tertiary Hospitals and Chief Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre, Abuja, Prof. Saad Ahmed, said structured collaborations with diaspora professionals had already yielded positive results, citing the successful open-heart surgery programme at the hospital as a model that could be replicated nationwide.
He expressed confidence that the initial rollout of NiDAH-P across 19 federal tertiary health institutions would produce measurable results within a year.
Also speaking, Mary Brento, representing the WHO Country Representative, Dr. Pavel Ursu, described the health workforce as the foundation of every healthcare system and noted that Nigeria, like many African countries, continues to face shortages of skilled health workers due largely to migration.
She reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to supporting Nigeria in strengthening its health workforce and advancing universal health coverage through strategic partnerships such as the NiDAH-P initiative.
