The federal government says it needs three years and an estimated N4.55 billion to recruit the 122,696 health workers required to fill vacancies in primary healthcare facilities across 26 states.
Human Resource for Health and Project Management Lead at the Sector-Wide Approach Coordination Office, Zaiyanatu Umar, disclosed this at the 15th Expanded Ministerial Oversight Committee meeting in Abuja. She said the estimate followed analysis of baseline data from 26 verified states that reported their staffing against the minimum standards during a SWAP recruitment assessment.
She said the exercise found that 220,755 primary healthcare positions were required across participating states, but only 98,059 were filled, leaving 122,696 vacancies. Participating states averaged 7.5 workers per 10,000 people, with 55.6 per cent of required positions unfilled.
Umar said the South East recorded the most severe shortage, with a 73 per cent workforce gap and only 1.9 workers per 10,000 people, followed by the North West at 70.9 per cent and the South West at 59.3 per cent, while the North Central, South South and North East recorded smaller gaps. The calculations excluded 13 states, with a Human Resource for Health scorecard being finalized.
Separately, National Emergency Medical Treatment Committee Coordinator Emuren Doubra said N2.41 billion had been disbursed to states and federal tertiary facilities for emergency interventions since 2023, benefiting more than 130,000 patients, while Country Coordinating Mechanism Executive Director Ibrahim Tajudeen said Nigeria had submitted its Global Fund Grant Cycle Eight request, allocated $791.6 million against $933.1 million under the current cycle.
