A STAGGERING $29.29 billion was spent by Nigerians on foreign healthcare services during the eight-year administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, a detailed analysis of data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed.
This translates to an average of $3.66 billion per year, indicating an unrelenting appetite for medical tourism during a time when Buhari repeatedly vowed to reform and invest in Nigeria’s collapsing healthcare sector.
Ironically, the highest single-year health-related outflow occurred just months after Buhari assumed office in 2015.
The figures, culled from the CBN’s quarterly statistical bulletins under the category “Health-Related and Social Services,” capture cumulative foreign exchange outflows for medical purposes from June 2015 to May 2023, mirroring the full stretch of Buhari’s two-term presidency.
While the former president frequently spoke about curbing medical tourism and investing in local healthcare, the data suggests otherwise. Instead, foreign medical expenses not only remained consistent but spiked in several years, with two of the costliest years occurring during his second term.
In the first year alone June 2015 to May 2016, Nigerians spent $7.81 billion on foreign medical care. September 2015 alone recorded an astronomical $3.20 billion, the highest monthly figure of the entire period. Analysts speculate that this early spike may have reflected pent-up demand, a rush for foreign care among elites, or a backlog of deferred payments from the previous administration.
Subsequent years saw fluctuating spending patterns:
2016–2017: $2.76 billion
2017–2018: $1.72 billion
2018–2019: $440 million (the lowest year recorded)
Although there was a dip midway through his first term, the second term began with renewed outflows:
2019–2020: $920 million
2020–2021: $1.57 billion (despite pandemic restrictions)
2021–2022: $6.96 billion
2022–2023: $7.12 billion
This brings the total spending during Buhari’s first term to $12.73 billion, while his second term alone accounted for $16.56 billion — more than half of the total health-related foreign exchange outflows.
The COVID-19 pandemic temporarily reduced international travel, resulting in lower health-related FX disbursements in 2020. However, as global borders reopened, pent-up demand exploded. June 2021 saw a $3.02 billion outflow, nearly rivaling the 2015 peak. April 2022 and January 2023 also saw sharp increases of $1.28 billion and $2.30 billion respectively.
Experts say the data points to systemic distrust in Nigeria’s healthcare system, especially among the political elite who increasingly opted for foreign medical solutions.
Buhari himself was often criticised for relying on foreign hospitals for personal medical care.
During his presidency, he undertook multiple medical trips to the UK, some lasting several weeks. Altogether, he spent at least 225 days abroad for health reasons, visiting over 40 countries in total.
His longest medical absence came in 2017, when he spent 104 days in London, drawing widespread criticism at home. Yet, these trips continued until the final months of his tenure. In October 2022, he traveled again to London for a medical check-up, just months before leaving office.
Despite the controversy, his aides, including former presidential spokesman Femi Adesina, defended the practice. Adesina famously claimed that Buhari had trusted his UK medical team for over four decades and suggested that refusing foreign care could have jeopardized his life.
Healthcare professionals across Nigeria say the trend reflects a dangerous failure in governance. Dr. Tope Osundara, President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, described the statistics as both “disheartening and shameful.”
“It’s like building a company, investing in it, then refusing to use its products. That tells you the level of distrust Nigerian leaders have in the system they’re meant to fix,” Osundara said.
He recalled how Buhari once called for the end of medical tourism yet remained a frequent patron of foreign hospitals. “It’s not just hypocrisy; it’s an indictment,” he added.
Prof. Bala Audu, President of the Nigerian Medical Association, said while citizens have the right to seek care abroad, the habitual reliance of public officials on foreign hospitals despite budgetary allocations for State House Clinics reflects “misplaced priorities”.
“It’s difficult to justify billions in healthcare budgets when even those managing the funds won’t trust local hospitals,” he said.
Beyond the symbolism, the $29.29 billion in medical outflows underscores the real economic cost of poor healthcare governance in Nigeria. Analysts note that this level of capital flight, if invested locally, could have built world-class hospitals and reversed Nigeria’s chronic medical brain drain.
Yet, as the figures show, successive administrations despite lofty promises have failed to stem the tide of medical tourism, leaving a legacy of fragile infrastructure, underfunded hospitals, and a healthcare system that even its leaders do not use.
With Buhari’s passing, many Nigerians are hoping for a shift though history suggests caution.