18/10/2026
The Kano State Ministry of Health has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening Human Resources for Health (HRH) through better workforce planning, fairer deployment, capacity development and stronger institutional coordination.
The commitment was made at a meeting of the State HRH Steering Committee. It brought together senior government officials, representative of health training institutions, technical experts and development partners to review the state’s workforce situation, assess progress on earlier recommendations and agree on priority actions needing management and policy decisions.
In his opening remarks, the Honourable Commissioner for Health, Dr. Abubakar Labarai Yusuf described HRH as the fulcrum on which healthcare services rest. He said the current administration is doing its best to close the workforce gap, noting that over 2,000 health workers have recently been recruited and that more will be engaged.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, in his welcome remarks, said quality care requires more than enough health workers. It also requires the right mix of trained, competent and motivated personnel, fairly distributed across facilities. He added that this matters most at the primary healthcare level, where frontline workers directly shape service outcomes.
Goodwill messages came from the Chief Medical Directors of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital and the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Dala. Representatives of development partners, including World Health Organization Nigeria, Sanhdef, HCM Foundation, Pathfinder International and Catalysts, also attended.
The Department of Human Resources for Health and Training reported a combined shortfall of 9,419 health workers (Medical Doctors, Nurses, Midwives, and Community Health Extension Workers) , based on Minimum Service Package requirements. Of these, 7,271 are needed in the Primary Health Care Management Board and 2,148 in the Hospitals Management Board.
The meeting also pointed to uneven distribution of staff, gender disparities, a shortage of specialized personnel and poorly documented training activities as key challenges. Participants called for a comprehensive workforce information system covering numbers, qualifications, competencies, specializations and deployment across public, private and federal institutions in the state.
The Committee reviewed progress on HRH governance, including the activation of the HRH Technical Working Group and the development of a state HRH policy. Stakeholders stressed the need to harmonize partner-supported recruitment and training with government priorities, and to build such interventions into annual operational plans and budgets, especially where government co-funding is required.
Members considered lessons from a recent learning visit to Gombe State on biometric attendance management. They saw its potential to improve accountability and payroll management, but urged a phased approach that takes account of operational challenges, staff retention, infrastructure and service delivery.
Participants raised concern that some specialized medical equipment is underused because staff lack training, and called for targeted capacity building to get more value from existing investments. They also urged that workforce skills be aligned with the state’s disease burden.
The Committee’s priority actions include strengthening workforce data collection across institutions; assessing the need for specialized staff; improving coordination of training activities; engaging partners on sustainable recruitment; and exploring a phased rollout of biometric attendance.
Relevant departments and agencies were assigned to take these forwards, with progress to be reviewed at later meetings.
The meeting reaffirmed the state’s commitment to building a responsive, competent and equitably distributed health workforce, supported by coordinated leadership, evidence-based planning and sustained investment in health personnel.
