Today, I was a guest speaker at the 28th Nigerian Universities Nursing Students Association (NUNSA) Annual General Assembly, held at the University of Lagos. The theme of the conference, which was centred on “Empowering Nurses: A Catalyst for Sustainable Health Care in Africa”, is both timely and essential. I took time to highlight the critical shortage of nurses in Nigeria which, I insist, should be addressed by investing in the training of more nurses to satisfy our domestic healthcare needs and have enough to export to the global community.
Nigeria only accounts for just about 1% of the global nursing workforce, which is far below what is needed for a country of over 200 million people. This critical shortage has continued to manifest in the poor nurse-to-patient ratio in Nigeria. We currently have about a 1:1,160 nurse-to-patient ratio, far above the WHO’s recommended ratio of 1:120. Irrespective of its huge population of about 1.45 billion people, India has achieved a nurse-to-patient ratio of about 1:500 and is continuously improving it by investing in the training of more nurses.
Nigeria, according to reports, needs about 1 million nurses to fill in this severe shortage. We currently have about 200,000 registered nurses and still need about 800,000 to fill the shortage. With about 400 schools and colleges of nursing in Nigeria, producing less than 15,000 nurses annually, it will take us over 50 years to end the shortage. This highlights the need for urgent actions that will aid the production of more nurses who are the bedrock of our primary health sector.
We also need to invest more in nursing internship programs to enable newly trained nurses to gain hands-on experience to function effectively in the health sector.
By so doing, we will raise an army of well-trained nurses who productively contribute to our healthcare sector.
A New Nigeria is POssible. -PO
