… as NELFUND storms Plateau on sensitization over students loan

By Joseph Erunke

Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State has canvassed for enhanced provision of incentives for health workers in the country, noting that such measure has become necessary to discourage doctors and other health practitioners from migrating to foreign countries in search of greener pastures.

This is as the governor advised the federal government to institute a mechanism that would deter students who benefit from training or loan through the students loans scheme of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, from leaving the country.

He spoke on Monday night in Jos, during a courtesy visit on him by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr.

He explained that the aim is to ensure that students who benefit from the students loans scheme remain in the country to contribute to its development, rather than seeking greener pastures outside the country.

He lamented the adverse effects of brain drain on the healthcare system in NigeriaNigeria, insisting that measures must be put in place to end the ugly development.

Governor Mutfwang said the insensitive could include competitive salaries, improved working conditions, opportunities for career advancement, and other benefits that would make practicing medicine in Nigeria a more appealing and rewarding option.

“But I know in those days for medical students, they were placed on salary Level Seven, as soon as they stepped into the clinicals. For medical doctors, veterinary doctors, nurses and so on, by the time you are doing your clinicals, you are actually on government payroll.

” As soon as you graduated, you automatically joined the state service. And you were required to put in shift for a number of years before you were at liberty to go anywhere. If not, we’re simply going to be producing for the developed countries, because they are not giving birth to children. They need manpower, and we will continue to simply service them.

“We have no other country except Nigeria. If we don’t stay back to take care of our country, nobody will. So there has to be a dose of patriotism that ensures that people make a conscious, deliberate commitment to contribute to national development.

“You can go get your education anywhere in the world, but as as long as you were trained with Nigerian taxes, there should be a minimum level of expectation that the nation should have over you”, he said.

He noted that the mass exodus of highly trained medical professionals, such as doctors, nurses, and specialists, has resulted in a severe shortage of skilled healthcare workers.

This trend, he emphasized, not only undermines the country’s ability to provide adequate healthcare but also affects the significant investments made in training these professionals.

“For the medical students particularly, the biggest impact of Japa is in the health sector, where it has left a huge deficit. And we are thinking of investing in training students. But we need to bind them over, because it doesn’t make sense to train a medical doctor, and the next day he is jetting out of the country. How do we avoid that? Because if he has access to this kind of scholarship, he would then be trained for export,” he said.

Earlier,in his mission address, the MD/CEO of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, explained that he was in the state to sensitize the people the people, especially students on the federal government’s loan scheme.

“Our purpose here is to make sure that the indigenes and those from other places who are studying in this great state, know how to access the funding that’s available for them, ” he said.

He said President Bola Tinubu’s government committed in ensuring that no student in public tertiary institutions is denied educational opportunities due to financial constraints.

The Managing Director used the opportunity to explain how the scheme operates to the governor.

“Our purpose here is to make sure that the indigenes and those from other places who are studying in this great state, know how to access the funding that’s available for them.

“We must ensure that all states in Nigeria, all indigenes benefit from this scheme,” he further explained.