FG Moves to Launch Military Medical College as Nigeria Battles 340,000 Doctor Gap
By: Oluwaseun Lawal
Nigeria has over 240 million people. That’s the backdrop.
Yet inside the Armed Forces, only 189 medical professionals are currently serving. The contrast is sharp. Almost uncomfortable.
Now, the Federal Government says it wants to act.
Following 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, plans have been unveiled to establish the Armed Forces College of Medicine and Health Sciences (AFCOM&HS).
The goal? Tackle Nigeria’s estimated shortfall of about 340,000 doctors. A number that keeps surfacing in policy conversations.
According to a statement from the Federal Ministry of Education, the proposed college is being positioned as more than just another campus. It is described as a strategic intervention — one aimed at strengthening military healthcare capacity while also expanding national medical training output.
Officials argue that the Armed Forces cannot continue operating with such limited in-house medical manpower, especially in a country of this size. And they are not wrong to see the strain.
The new college is expected to operate within the existing university framework of the Nigerian Defence Academy. That structure, the government says, ensures compliance with the current seven-year moratorium on new tertiary institutions. Clinical training will be conducted in accredited federal and military hospitals.
Admissions will go through the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), and graduates will be commissioned as Captains in the Armed Forces. So, it’s not just medical training. It’s military formation too.
Interestingly, the government says medical school admissions nationwide have already increased — from roughly 5,000 annually to nearly 10,000. There are projections to scale up to around 19,000 in the coming years. Ambitious numbers. Whether the infrastructure can keep up is another discussion entirely.
The new college is expected to produce combat casualty doctors, trauma surgeons, emergency response medics, military public health experts and disaster response professionals. In short, specialists trained for both hospital wards and conflict zones.
A Technical Working Group — involving the ministries of education and defence, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, the National Universities Commission, JAMB and others — has been set up to oversee standards and compliance.
If timelines hold, admissions could begin by October or November 2026.
It’s a bold move. Some would say overdue.
But bridging a 340,000 doctor gap? That will take more than one college. It will take time. And consistency.
