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2,000 doctors unable to go for housemanship annually — MDCN
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Out of the 6,000 medical doctors the country produces yearly, about 2,000 of them are unable to access placement for housemanship, according to the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN).
The Registrar of the Council, Fatimah Kyari, while speaking on the issue on Friday, blamed it on the “Centralised Housemanship System” operational in the country, which can accommodate only 4,000 as against the 6,000 medical graduates produced annually.
Housemanship is the mandatory one-year postgraduate internship for medical graduates. It provides supervised hands-on clinical training in accredited hospitals before full licensure.
Newly-qualified doctors, called house officers, rotate through key departments like medicine, surgery, pediatrics, and obstetrics.
This builds practical skills in patient care, diagnosis, and management under senior supervision.
Kyari made the disclosure when she appeared before the Senate Committee on Health chaired by Senator Banigo Ipaliboto to defend the MDCN’s 2026 budget proposals.
The registrar called for the inclusion of both state and privately-owned hospitals in the training system in a bid to accommodate all the 6,000 medical graduates.
She said, “A total of about 6,000 medical doctors are produced annually from the various medical schools while the Centralised Housemanship System in operation has capacity for 4, 000 medical doctors .
“As a way of accommodating the 6,000 at once yearly, there is a need to include state and privately-owned hospitals in the Centralised Housemanship System.”
She explained that expanding the accommodation access would allow all the trainees to enroll at once and help tackle the brain-drain syndrome, better known as ‘japa’, in Nigeria.
Kyari spoke of other challenges, including non-release of budgetary provisions for the work of the council.
For instance, she told the committee that though N1.2billion capital vote was appropriated as capital in 2025, nothing was released to the MDCN.
For overhead, she revealed that only N35.7million was released out of the total of N100m.
For personnel cost, she admitted that N13.8bn was released from the N16.8bn budgeted for the year.
Senator Ipaliboto assured Kyari that the situation would change in 2026 as the committee would make appropriate recommendations to the Senate to address the challenges she enumerated.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Inter-Parliamentary Affairs, Senator Aliyu Wadada has promised to revive the committee’s activities after acknowledging concerns over its prolonged inactivity.
Wadada spoke on Thursday at the end of the committee’s meeting in Abuja.
Specifically, the chairman admitted that the committee had been underutilised, noting that it had met only once in the last three years.
He, however, said issues responsible for the situation had been identified during a closed-door session and would be addressed.
“Of course I feel concerned about it, but when we got into the details in a closed-door meeting, we got to know where the problems are, and they will all be taken care of. The committee will be as active as it should always be,” he said.
Commenting further, the chairman said the committee would focus on its core mandate of promoting and strengthening legislative relations between Nigeria’s National Assembly and parliamentary bodies across the world.
According to him, the committee will deepen engagement with regional and international legislative institutions, including the ECOWAS Parliament, the Pan-African Parliament, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and other parliamentary organisations.
He disclosed that a new work plan had already been developed to guide the committee’s activities.
He added: “The direction is basically around the responsibilities of the committee, which is to promote and deepen legislative relationship within Nigeria and with other legislative bodies around the world”.
The chairman added that the committee’s first major activity would be a courtesy visit to the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament in Nigeria as part of efforts to strengthen inter-parliamentary cooperation.
SINL NIgeria Online reports that Senator Wadada assured that the public would be kept informed of the committee’s activities as the new work plan is implemented.
The Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, has revealed that the minimum monthly salary of Nigerian soldiers has increased to N100,000 after the Federal Government reviewed their welfare package.
Musa made the disclosure during an interview with News Central ahead of his appearance on the NC Exclusive programme.
He said the adjustment was part of efforts by the government to improve the living conditions of military personnel.
Executive Branch
The former Chief of Defence Staff, however, said the country’s defence sector still requires more funding despite the improvement in soldiers’ earnings and welfare.
He stated that the current defence budget remains inadequate, adding that more resources are needed to effectively support the armed forces and their operations.
Musa explained that soldiers who previously earned about N49,000 monthly now receive at least N100,000 following the salary review carried out by the government.
The minister also called for tougher punishment for kidnappers, saying stronger measures are needed to reduce the increasing cases of abduction across Nigeria.
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Senator Wadada promises to deepen legislative ties, stop inactivity
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