President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure from 2015 to 2023 was marked by a significant outflow of both government and private funds to support medical tourism.
During this period, Nigeria’s reliance on foreign healthcare services increased substantially, draining critical financial resources from the national economy.
Medical tourism, traditionally pursued by affluent Nigerians, became a notable trend among public officials, including President Buhari himself, whose repeated health trips abroad drew sharp scrutiny and controversy.
Estimates indicate that between 2015 and 2023, Nigerians collectively spent an average of over $3.6billion annually on foreign healthcare, amounting to about $29billion during Buhari’s eight-year presidency.
This sum includes spending by both government officials and private individuals, but top officials’ expenses—often covered by public funds—made up a significant and controversial portion.
During Buhari’s presidency, the government’s lack of investment in local health infrastructure pushed many toward seeking advanced medical care overseas.
The government’s portion of this expenditure, while hard to precisely isolate due to limited public transparency on individual officials’ medical bills, is reflected in the costs accrued during President Buhari’s frequent medical trips to the United Kingdom and other destinations.
Buhari himself reportedly spent at least 225 days outside Nigeria on medical trips, with each journey incurring not only medical bills but also substantial costs for presidential travel, security, and the operation of Nigeria’s presidential jet.
For instance, the cost of parking the presidential jet during Buhari’s 2017 stay in London was estimated at over £360,000, not accounting for additional logistics and support staff expenses.
In addition to direct government spending on medical tourism, Buhari’s administration budgeted and disbursed significant funds for the construction and equipping of a VIP presidential clinic in Abuja, reportedly costing about ₦21billion (~$50million at 2022 exchange rates).
This investment was meant to reduce the need for foreign trips but did little to stop the trend, as both the president and other top officials continued to seek treatment abroad.
Despite pledges to curtail such expenses, experts argue that much of the financial burden on Nigeria’s economy persisted due to institutionalized medical tourism, especially among the elite.
Broader data from Nigeria’s central bank, as well as health sector reviews, corroborate the scale of the problem.
In the years 2020–2022 alone, Nigerians spent about $3billion on overseas medical services.
Year-by-year figures show that $2.56billion was spent in 2019—the peak year—while
$783million was spent in 2017 and $1.67billion in 2018, reflecting fluctuations according to both exchange rates and healthcare needs, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The consistent annual outflow illustrates the entrenchment of medical tourism as a parallel health system for those with the means to escape Nigeria’s ailing clinics and hospitals.
This relentless channeling of funds abroad represented a grave lost opportunity for Nigeria’s healthcare sector. Analysts and advocacy groups repeatedly lamented how yearly medical tourism expenses far exceeded health sector budget allocations.
At times, the amounts spent overseas were three to four times the federal health budget, reflecting systemic neglect of local infrastructure in favor of overseas treatment.
The cycle undermined public confidence in domestic healthcare and exacerbated a vicious spiral: underfunded hospitals could not attract top talent or technology, leading to further reliance on foreign care and even more spending abroad.
In summary, during Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years as president, Nigeria is estimated to have lost around $29billion, over N4.4 trillion, to medical tourism, a sum largely driven by persistent foreign medical trips by government officials and well-heeled citizens.
The spending failed to yield improvements at home and instead amplified the weaknesses of Nigeria’s health system.
Experts stress that unless decisive action is taken to improve domestic healthcare, curtailing the financial hemorrhage of medical tourism will remain an elusive goal for future Nigerian governments.