UK Restricts Hiring of Nigerian Doctors and Health Workers

“UK recruiters are not permitted to actively recruit from these countries (Nigeria is among).”


The United Kingdom has reviewed its code of practice, restraining health workers from Nigeria and 46 other countries from employment in the UK.

The UK policy barring recruitment from Nigerian and some other countries is because the countries are considered health workers-endangered and may further lose their essential medical personnel to the UK.

“UK recruiters are not permitted to actively recruit from these countries (Nigeria is among) unless there is a government-to-government agreement in place for managed recruitment,” the British government said in a statement.

The countries include Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Gabon.

The statement added, “To align with the WHO, the new code refers to the WHO Health Workforce Support and safeguard list, 2020 of 47 countries where active recruitment can’t be undertaken.

“This replaces the previous UK-held list of 152 countries and removes confusion which can arise from the UK holding a separate list of countries.”

International recruitment is one way the UK ensures the NHS has the staff to achieve a “sustainable” health and social care workforce to meet the UK’s needs and provide better healthcare that can be delivered to everyone.

According to the statement, the UK’s homegrown supply of health and social care staff is increasing through a range of government measures.