Workers’ Migration To Europe Threatens Nigeria’s Healthcare System — MHWUN 

The Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) has warned that the continued migration of skilled young health workers to Europe in search of better opportunities is placing Nigeria’s healthcare system at risk.

The national president of MHWUN, Comrade Ado Sani Minjibir, raised the concern in Abuja during the union’s 2026 International Youth Day celebration, organised in collaboration with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

He said the migration of young and skilled health workers was no longer an isolated labour issue but a growing threat to healthcare delivery across Nigeria and other African countries.

Minjibir said the problem was compounded by inadequate working environments, limited opportunities for capacity building and insufficient involvement of young workers in institutional and union decision-making.

He said retaining young professionals in the country was essential because they constitute the workforce that would eventually take responsibility for hospitals, primary healthcare facilities and the labour movement.

“The youth are migrating out of our respective countries to Europe for greener pasture. So we wanted to see how we can collaborate with government to stop that, because we know that in as much as our youth were not being mentored here in our country, then our health system across the region is in jeopardy.

Every young comrade who chooses to stay, organize and grow within this union is a direct investment in the future of healthcare delivery in Nigeria and it is a choice we must continue to make and value,” he said.

The MHWUN president said the union was strengthening its youth structures and mentorship programmes to prepare younger workers for leadership while engaging with government and regional labour organisations on the migration challenge.

He said discussions at the West African Health Sector Union Network showed that countries in the region were facing similar difficulties as health workers increasingly sought opportunities abroad.

He urged government to collaborate with labour unions to address the factors driving migration, particularly poor working conditions and limited professional opportunities.

The national youth coordinator of MHWUN, Comrade Ujunwa Marcel Chinweuba, said young health workers needed greater opportunities to participate in union activities and workplace decision-making.

He called for stronger youth mainstreaming at branch level so that policies and opportunities available at the national and state levels would reach workers across the country.

Chinweuba said young workers must also prepare themselves for leadership by acquiring trade union knowledge, professional competence and organisational skills.

He noted that the union’s established youth structure provided an important platform for developing the next generation of health-sector and labour leaders.