FG to establish armed forces medical college to tackle 340 , 000 doctor shortfall

thecable.ng · Feb 21, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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The federal government has unveiled plans to establish the Armed Forces College of Medicine and Health Sciences (AFCOM&HS) to address Nigeria’s estimated shortfall of 340,000 doctors. A statement on Friday by Boriowo Folasade, director of press and public relations at the ministry of education, said the development follows a high-level meeting attended by Tunji Alausa, minister of education; Suiwaba Ahmed, minister of state for education; Christopher Musa, minister of defence and other key stakeholders in the education, defence and health sectors. Alausa noted that Nigeria’s population has surpassed 240 million, while only 189 medical professionals currently serve in the armed forces. He highlighted Nigeria’s broader deficit of approximately 340,000 doctors, noting the urgent need for scalable and innovative training models. Alausa described the proposed military medical college as a “strategic national intervention to strengthen military healthcare services, address critical manpower shortages within the Armed Forces, and expand Nigeria’s overall medical training capacity”. He added that the college would position Nigeria as a regional hub for military medical training in West Africa. As part of broader reforms, Alausa said the government has doubled annual medical school admissions from about 5,000 to nearly 10,000, with plans to further increase intake to approximately 19,000 in the coming years. According to him, the new college will be a critical component of this expansion, aimed at developing a sustainable pipeline of combat casualty-trained doctors, surgeons, trauma specialists, emergency response medics, military public health and disaster response professionals, and other allied health personnel. He said the initiative aligns with the President Bola Tinubu’s administration education reform agenda, emphasising the strengthening of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical sciences. The minister noted that the college will operate within the existing university framework of the Nigerian Defence Academy, in compliance with the federal government’s seven-year moratorium on new tertiary institutions and following directives from Tinubu. Clinical training, he said, will take place in accredited federal and military hospitals. The minister added that medical cadets will gain admission through the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), and upon completion of their training, they will be commissioned as captains in the armed forces. According to him, a technical working group comprising representatives from the federal ministry of education, ministry of defence, Nigerian Defence Academy, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, the National Universities Commission, JAMB, and other regulatory bodies has been constituted to ensure compliance and quality assurance. The government confirmed that the necessary processes are being put in place for admissions to commence by October or November 2026.