ABUJA, Nigeria \u2014 Nigerians spent 52 percent less on medical treatment abroad under President Bola Tinubu\u2019s administration, according to a new report from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The report, which analyzed foreign exchange allocations for medical services, revealed that overseas medical spending dropped sharply from 9.3 million Dollars in 2023 to 4.4 million Dollars in 2024. The CBN attributed the decline to tighter foreign exchange policies and the federal government\u2019s push to strengthen domestic healthcare delivery.
Analysts say the fall in medical tourism could signal a shift in Nigerians\u2019 healthcare behavior \u2014 or a reflection of the worsening economic conditions that have made foreign medical travel unaffordable for many.
President Tinubu\u2019s administration has repeatedly emphasized its commitment to revitalizing Nigeria\u2019s healthcare system, pledging to reduce dependence on foreign hospitals by investing in local medical infrastructure.
Reacting to the report, Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, described the development as a \u201cpositive outcome of ongoing health sector reforms.\u201d
\u201cWe\u2019re improving hospital standards, investing in medical equipment, and building confidence in our doctors,\u201d Pate said. \u201cOur goal is to make Nigeria a destination for quality healthcare.\u201d
However, critics argue that the decline may have more to do with foreign exchange scarcity than with genuine improvements in the health sector.
Dr. Funmilayo Omole, a public health expert, said many patients still prefer treatment abroad but are unable to access dollars at official or parallel market rates.
\u201cThis isn\u2019t necessarily a sign that healthcare is better,\u201d Omole said. \u201cIt\u2019s about affordability. People can\u2019t pay for what they used to.\u201d
The Senate Committee on Health urged the government to capitalize on the trend by channeling more funds into hospital infrastructure, research, and health worker training.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio commended the CBN report but warned that \u201creducing medical tourism must come from quality improvement, not economic hardship.\u201d
In his reaction, President Tinubu said the government remains committed to ending medical tourism by building \u201cworld-class hospitals that meet international standards.\u201d
\u201cWe must restore confidence in our local healthcare system,\u201d Tinubu said. \u201cEvery Nigerian deserves treatment at home, not abroad.\u201d
The report comes as Nigeria faces growing pressure to reform its healthcare financing, improve staff welfare, and curb the exodus of medical professionals seeking better opportunities overseas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ABUJA, Nigeria \u2014 Nigerians spent 52 percent less on medical treatment abroad under President Bola Tinubu\u2019s administration, according to a new report from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The report, which analyzed foreign exchange allocations for medical services, revealed that overseas medical spending dropped sharply from 9.3 million Dollars in 2023 to 4.4 million […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-naija-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/President-Bola-Tinubu-2.jpeg?fit=677%2C453&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22012"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22018,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22012\/revisions\/22018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}