President Bola Tinubu has charged the West African College of Physicians to find solutions to the migration of doctors from Nigeria and other West African countries.
The college’s Assistant Secretary-General, Hasibu Galadanci, disclosed this on Saturday at a press conference in Abuja as the institution began its golden jubilee and annual general and scientific meeting.
Galadanci said Tinubu raised the issue, popularly known as ‘japa’, during a meeting with the college’s leadership.
“In fact, when we saw the President of Nigeria, His Excellency, President Tinubu, that was one of the main things he charged us with, that we should discuss the ‘japa’ syndrome and find solutions to them,” he said.
He said the conference would feature a dedicated session examining the factors pushing health workers out of West Africa and the conditions attracting them to foreign countries.
“We have a whole session that will look at the push and the pull dynamics, because it’s a very, very complex situation. It’s not a one-way, one easy-answer situation,” Galadanci added.
He said the conference would also examine the growing application of artificial intelligence in clinical practice and the ethical questions surrounding its use in patient care.
“It’s not something we can run away from. So what we have to discuss is how are we going to manage it,” he said.
The conference, which began on Saturday, will run until October 28 in Abuja. It is bringing together medical specialists, researchers and health policymakers to discuss workforce retention, healthcare delivery, medical education and other challenges confronting health systems across the region.
The college’s president, Mamadou Ka, said the golden jubilee offered an opportunity to honour its founding members, assess its achievements over the past five decades and set priorities for postgraduate medical education and healthcare delivery.
“Fifty years ago, our founding fathers set out to promote excellence in postgraduate medical education, strengthen professional standards and improve healthcare across the region. The Golden Jubilee is our moment to honour them, take stock of what has been achieved and set the course for the next 50 years,” Ka said.
He disclosed that the college conferred its honorary fellowship on Tinubu on October 22, 2026, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. According to him, the distinction is among the highest honours the college can bestow and the eighth time it has conferred the fellowship.
“We are proud to welcome the President into our fellowship in this Golden Jubilee year, and we thank him, the Federal Government and the people of Nigeria for hosting this historic gathering in Abuja,” he said.
Ka said the college was working with the Federal Ministry of Health and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention to protect delegates, staff and the host community following the Federal Government’s announcement of a confirmed Ebola virus disease case in Nigeria.
He said the precautionary measures included compliance with official public health guidance, health screening and hand hygiene stations at venue entrances, and regular updates as official guidance changed.
“We urge everyone to rely on official sources and to avoid misinformation,” he said.
The college’s Secretary-General, Musa Dankyau, said West Africa had made significant progress in specialist medical training over the past five decades, although retaining trained professionals remained a major challenge.
He said the college had helped develop a pool of specialists who could receive postgraduate training within the region.
“Fifty years ago, to have a chance to be trained as a specialist, you had to travel to Europe,” Dankyau said.
He explained that the region now had specialists in fields including nephrology, paediatric cardiology, gastroenterology, family medicine and community health, many of whom had received their training through regional postgraduate medical institutions.
According to the college, it was established in 1976 by five English-speaking West African countries to promote postgraduate medical education and professional standards across the region. It has since expanded to include English-, French- and Portuguese-speaking countries.
It has six faculties covering community health, family medicine, internal medicine, laboratory medicine, paediatrics and psychiatry. It currently has 13 national chapters, with its headquarters in Lagos, and aims to bring all 15 West African countries into its fold.
Ka said the college had also developed partnerships with sister professional institutions, including the West African College of Surgeons, to strengthen medical training and healthcare delivery.
The anniversary programme includes a medical outreach, the launch of a 50th anniversary monument, an opening and induction ceremony, scientific presentations, exhibitions and symposia on the contribution of the college’s six faculties to healthcare in the region.
The scientific sessions will address maternal and child health, reproductive healthcare, hospital performance, kidney disease, dementia, mental health and the ethical implications of artificial intelligence in medicine.
Galadanci further said recommendations from the scientific sessions would be compiled into a communiqué to support advocacy and engagement with governments and regional institutions.
The meeting is expected to conclude with the college’s annual general meeting, closing ceremony and anniversary dinner.