The Canada’s Token of $18M for Nigeria

I felt bad about this token from Canada. Yes, send Nigeria $18 million to deal with many challenges as the minister noted: “Nigeria is facing a complex humanitarian crisis that requires urgent action from the international community. Canada is proud to stand with the Nigerian people and our partners to help address the immediate and underlying causes of this crisis” – Minister of International Development, Karina Gould.

The press release stated that Canada’s humanitarian assistance will help deliver food, nutrition, health care, water, sanitation, hygiene, protection, and education services to the most vulnerable populations, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and host communities. Canada will also support efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based violence, which has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Canada’s aid has made a significant impact on the lives of millions of Nigerians who have benefited from improved health care, education, food security, and protection.

I wish Nigeria could reject this money and push for Canada to pay $200,000 per medical doctor hired from Nigeria. Nigeria’s medical school system is subsidized, but Canada jumps in and hires the doctors after graduation. So, instead of this $18m, we can develop a better business model with Canada, by asking to be refunded for our medical doctors.

What is $18 million for a country shipping its hundreds of medical doctors away yearly? The crisis which Canada is sending $18m for came because Nigeria has limited doctors to support its primary healthcare system. You cannot blame Canada of course. We just need to wake up as a people, and if the government cannot lead here, that would be extremely unfortunate.

Of course, I have no issues with Canada; Nigeria has to put its house in order!

Comment on Feed

Comment 1: They didnt ship the medical doctors to Canada, they chased them away. Doctors are not the only professionals that left Nigeria for greener pasture, Engineers and other financial experts did too. I dont think prof should be taking this position since he also benefited from the JAPA window

My Response: As always, I have noted that I am not qualified to speak on this. Yet, while I cannot speak on personal decisions of peeople, I have rights to speak to our government. So, this is not about asking doctors to stay (you will not read that from me). I am simply challenging Nigeria to fix things.

Comment 2: Prof. You shot from the two sides of the barrel. Well, with no intention to hold brief for Canada, I am not aware, that they have taken any step to set up active recruitment systems targeted at pulling off Nigerian medical graduates. They only implemented policies that made it attractive for willing immigrants to take a bait.

Agreed, Nigeria may have invested heavily in training doctors, but it is also the responsibility of every smart investor to protect his investments. Here, Nigeria failed. A minister of labour once said that Doctors can go wherever they want to go and not that important in the scheme of things. The mass exit of Doctors is a response to the mess the health sector has become.

And to revert it, let Nigeria make the sector attractive. Have you heard of any nation trying to recruit or poach Nigerian politicians? Answer is No and reason is because no nation on earth can pay the least person playing in Nigeria’s political space. That space, for good or bad, is attractive enough to retain its workforce. Beggars have no choice. Nigeria is begging and have no chips for any form of bargain.

Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA (Feb 10 - May 3, 2025), and join Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe and our global faculty; click here.