Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has advocated better welfare conditions for medical workers, stressing that they must be given the right incentives if employers of labour want them to remain in Nigeria and not migrate overseas.

The former Nigerian leader said it was not enough for the governments at federal, sub-national and local levels to build health centres; they must provide the necessary equipment and remuneration to incentivise health workers.

Naijaonpoint reports that he made the submission on Tuesday in Zamfara State when he commissioned the renovated and rehabilitated Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital in the state.

Obasanjo commended the Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, for renovating the structure but emphasized the need to keep the workers motivated and provide the needed equipment for them to deliver as well.

He said, “When many Nigerians who have been trained as medical personnel are japaing – which is going out of the country to look for better conditions. But how do you hold them here without giving them a bit of incentive? You have to.

“We need all the personnel that we can have because our hospitals have to deliver. You need the right environment, and that is the refurbishing and the renovation, but you need the right equipment, and then you need the personnel.

“I am happy that you have brought them all together and let us make good use of them.”