FG moves to establish Armed Forces medical college to tackle doctor shortage
The Federal Government has unveiled plans to establish the Armed Forces College of Medicine and Health Sciences as part of a broader strategy to address Nigeria’s estimated shortfall of 340,000 doctors.
The decision was reached at a high-level meeting involving the Minister of Education, Maruf Alausa; the Minister of State for Education, Suiwaba Ahmed; and the Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, alongside key stakeholders from the education, defence and health sectors.
The development was announced in a statement issued on Friday by the Director of Press and Public Relations at the Federal Ministry of Education, Boriowo Folasade.
According to the statement, Nigeria’s population has surpassed 240 million, while only 189 medical professionals are currently serving in the Armed Forces. The government also highlighted the country’s broader deficit of about 340,000 doctors, underscoring the urgent need for scalable and innovative training models.
The proposed Armed Forces College of Medicine and Health Sciences is designed as a strategic national intervention aimed at strengthening military healthcare services, addressing critical manpower shortages within the Armed Forces, and expanding Nigeria’s overall medical training capacity. It is also expected to position Nigeria as a regional hub for military medical training in West Africa.
As part of wider reforms, the government said annual admissions into medical schools have increased from about 5,000 to nearly 10,000, with projections to rise to approximately 19,000 in the coming years. The new college is expected to play a central role in this expansion by building a sustainable pipeline of combat casualty-trained doctors, surgeons, trauma specialists, emergency response medics, military public health experts, disaster response professionals and other allied health personnel.
The initiative aligns with the administration’s education reform agenda under President Bola Tinubu, with a focus on strengthening science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medical sciences.
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. Clinical training will take place in accredited federal and military hospitals.
