The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige has revealed that medical doctors in Nigeria are trained for next to nothing, as they are made to pay an average of N48,000 per section as fees in public tertiary institutions.
Ngige went further to reveal that was not the situation in Europe and America where most of the Nigerian doctors run to for greener pastures, where they pay between €80,000 euros or dollars more per section to gain the same kind of education.
The Labour Minister made this statement on Tuesday in Abuja while participating in State House briefings organized by the Presidential Media Team.
Ngige accused the medical professionals leaving the country to work abroad of ingratitude, stating that a good number of them lack a sense of commitment to nation-building.
He said their counterparts in Europe and America access loans to get trained as medical personnel and some keep paying back such loans even after graduation.
Ngige, however, said it was not just a bag of misfortune for the country, as some of the so-called Nigerians going abroad end up coming back home to establish quality healthcare hospitals in Lagos and Abuja, which other citizens now access.
Responding to a question on why it is always difficult for the government to nip public sector workers’ crisis in the bud before it snowballs into a strike, Ngige said his ministry has been able to conciliate about 4000 labour disputes successfully.
He said more often than not, nobody hears about the interventions and that the ministry has been quite proactive contrary to opinions held by many Nigerians.
