Doctors recruited from Nigeria, others to work in UK lament exploitation, ‘slave labour’ – Newstrends
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Doctors recruited from Nigeria, others to work in UK lament exploitation, ‘slave labour’

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3 years ago

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Augustine Enekwechi

Doctors recruited from some of the world’s poorest countries to work in UK hospitals say they’re being exploited – and believe they’re so overworked they fear putting patients’ health at risk.

A BBC investigation has found evidence that doctors from Nigeria are being recruited by a British healthcare company and expected to work in private hospitals under conditions not allowed in the National Health Service.

The British Medical Association has described the situation as “shocking” and says the sector needs to be brought in line with NHS working practices.

The BBC has spoken to several foreign medics – including a young Nigerian doctor who worked at the private Nuffield Health Leeds Hospital in 2021.

Augustine Enekwechi says his hours were extreme – on-call 24 hours a day for a week at a time – and that he was unable to leave the hospital grounds. He says working there felt like being in “a prison”.

The tiredness was so intense, he says, there were times he worried he couldn’t properly function.

“I knew that working tired puts the patients at risk and puts myself also at risk, as well for litigation,” he says. “I felt powerless… helpless, you know, constant stress and thinking something could go wrong.”

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Nuffield Health disputes those working hours, saying its doctors are offered regular breaks, time off between shifts, and the ability to swap shifts if needed. The company adds that “the health and wellbeing of patients and hospital team members” is its priority.

Augustine was hired out to the Nuffield Health Leeds Hospital from a private company – NES Healthcare. It specialises in employing doctors from overseas, many from Nigeria, and using them as Resident Medical Officers, or RMOs – live-in doctors found mainly in the private sector.

Augustine says he was so excited to be offered a job that he barely looked at the NES contract. In fact it opted him out of legislation that protects UK workers from excessive working hours – the Working Time Directive – and left him vulnerable to a range of punishing salary deductions.

Augustine is far from alone. The BMA and the front line lobbying group the Doctors’ Association has given the BBC’s File on 4 and Newsnight exclusive access to the findings of a questionnaire put to 188 Resident Medical Officers. Most of the doctors were employed by NES but some were with other employers.

It found that 92% had been recruited from Africa and most – 81% – were from Nigeria. The majority complained about excessive working hours and unfair salary deductions.

For years now, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned against the “active recruitment” of doctors and nurses from developing countries with severe shortages of medical personnel. The WHO has compiled a list of 47 such countries – most of them in Africa. The UK government has incorporated that list into its own code of practice – calling it the “red list”. In effect, it makes Nigeria a no-go destination for British medical recruiters.

So how did the doctors come to be working in the UK in the first place? We travelled to Nigeria and witnessed another troubling side to this story.

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In an exam hall in Lagos, the country’s biggest city, we found hundreds of doctors queuing to take what’s called a Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board test – or PLAB 1. The paper is set by the General Medical Council in London and is the first step required by the British medical authorities to secure a licence to work in the UK.

The doctors we spoke to said they were attracted by the potential of higher salaries and better working conditions. The event was being overseen by staff from the British Council – an organisation sponsored by the Foreign Office.

The GMC also offers the exams in several other red-list countries – Ghana, Sudan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Both the GMC and British Council deny they are involved in “active recruitment” and say they’re simply helping provide a service for doctors wanting to come to the UK independently – something that is allowed under the guidelines.

In Augustine’s case, he was studying for the second part of those PLAB exams in the UK, when he was approached by NES Healthcare and later offered visa sponsorship and a potential job.

While that does appear to have been “active recruitment” – NES says it wasn’t, because it is not a recruitment agency and, as such, only engages with doctors from overseas once they’ve already committed to practising in the UK. But the Department of Health and Social Care told us the UK code of practice did apply to NES – so the company was in breach of it.

We spoke to several African doctors recruited in this way by NES. They all had similar stories about what the terms and conditions of their contracts meant in reality, once they had been hired out to private UK hospitals.

BBC.

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AKAMARA host retracts “ihram for fetish claims”, says conversations staged

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2 hours ago

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April 27, 2025

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AKAMARA host retracts “ihram for fetish claims”, says conversations staged

 

… as Muslim scholars warn against anti-Islamic contents

 

* It’s unfortunate, example of disinformation: Media expert

 

A veteran broadcaster and anchor of the controversial radio programme AKAMARA, Mr. Ibrahim Adesola (popularly known as Akamara), has retracted all the allegations made regarding the use of ihram (pilgrims garment) allegedly for rituals or diabolical means, saying that all the purported phone calls during the conversations were STAGED!

 

Akamara made the retractions in a video recorded during an urgent meeting convened by the Wakeelul Muslimeen of Yorubaland, Edo and Delta, Sheikh Iskeel Lawal Sugar, on Saturday, 26th April to address the topic which has sparked uproar among the Nigerian Muslim community.

 

Held in his office, the meeting was attended by stakeholders from Yewa Land, Owode Idiroko as well as journalists and lawyers.

 

Also in attendance was a representative of the President of League of Imams and Alfas in Ogun State, The Chief Imam of Owode Yewa, The Ad-hoc Chairman of Ogun State Muslims Pilgrims Board, Sheikh Ishaq Olorungbebe, Sheikh Fasasi Akeukanwo among others.

 

In a statement issued on Sunday, 27th April 2025 by Alhaji Lawal Abu Mordiyah, the Administrative Officer at the Office of Wakeelul Muslimeen of Yorubaland, the scholars warned bloggers like the host of Akamara who are attempting to use Islam or Islamic content to trend on social media for quick money to desist or be ready to face prosecution and risk going to jail.

 

The stakeholders, however, urged Muslims across the world to overlook and forgive the misdemeanor of Mr Ibrahim Adesola and continue to be good Muslims that they are.

 

The Beginning

 

Muslim News Nigeria gathered that a man, who identified himself as Najeem Ajisafe appeared on the radio programme alleging that one Alhaji Lukman Owokomago from Owode Onirin was sponsoring people of the area to Hajj only to collect their Ihram (hajj garment) after returning from hajj, supposedly for ritual.

 

The man, in a recorded viral audio, especially on Tiktok, claimed that when it was the turn of his father, Sulaiman Ajisafe, who went for the 2024 hajj under the sponsorship of Alhaji Owokomago, he decided to buy another cloth to give him instead of the one he allegedly used for hajj.

 

“To my father’s surprise, Alhaji Owokomago was able to tell that it wasn’t the original cloth and insisted that he wanted the original cloth used to perform hajj”, the man narrated the incident to the host of Akamara, promising him to release the suspect’s phone number to hear his own side of the story.

 

Follow-up story

 

In a bid to confirm the authenticity of the claim, the Akamara host brought the accused person Alhaji Owokomago to his programme, allegedly through a phone conversation, who confirmed the story, adding that the demand for Ihram was part of their agreement before the trip and it was his right to collect it.

 

“I have a right to demand the Ihram from them. In fact, it was part of the agreement before I sponsored them for Hajj. ₦10m per person isn’t small money. I sponsored five people. I must collect the Ihram. If I didn’t collect it before the next hajj, one soul will give up for another”, Alhaji Owokomago threatened the host of Akamara during their heated conversation.

 

Investigation leads to the truth

 

The audio clip has since sparked uproar on social media with many Islamophobes attacking Islam and hajj institutions, questioning the intentions of many philanthropists who sponsor underprivileged Nigerians to hajj.

 

But as the news got to the Office of Wakeelul Muslimeen of Yorubaland, Edo and Delta, he invited the host of Akamara to his office on Saturday, 26th April 2025 where it was revealed that the whole episode was STAGED!

 

Mr Adesola fondly called Akamara told the leadership of the community who attended the meeting that the story was a hoax, and a fiction, saying all the people involved in the audio recordings, including Owokomago and Ajisafe with his son, Najeem, do not exist in reality. It was all engineered and stage-managed by the host of Akamara himself.

 

In a recorded video shared on the official social media handle of the Wakeelul Muslimeen of Yorubaland, Edo and Delta, the host of Akamara has been mandated to do a two-minute retraction audio to explain what really happened. He was also mandated to dedicate his next radio programme to admit the story was STAGED, which he agreed to.

 

Despite the widespread backlash, the scholars urged Muslims worldwide to forgive the veteran broadcaster for his actions and continue to practice Islam with integrity and righteousness.

 

It’s unfortunate, example of disinformation: Media expert

 

The controversy surrounding Akamara’s staged broadcast drew sharp criticism from notable Nigerians, including Dr. Jamiu Folarin, a varsity lecturer, journalist and fact-checker.

 

Dr. Folarin described the incident as a prime example of disinformation, calling out content creators who prioritize monetary gain over ethical reporting.

 

“It is one thing to make a mistake, but it is entirely another to deliberately fabricate a story for financial profit,” said Dr. Folarin.

 

“What Ibrahim Adesola did – scripting a live broadcast involving false characters and events – is a high level of unprofessionalism. In a more regulated environment, such broadcasters would likely face severe penalties, including having their licenses revoked.”

 

Dr. Folarin also reiterated the urgent need for better regulation of content creation, especially concerning social media and the growing trend of skits, pranks, and satire that often mislead the public. “We must implement proper training for content creators, label satirical content clearly, and invest in media literacy programmes to prevent the spread of disinformation,” he emphasized.

 

The AKAMARA incident highlights the growing need for ethical conduct in media, especially at a time when misinformation and disinformation can easily spread across platforms.

 

As for Akamara, he has been given a chance to make amends and restore his credibility by publicly admitting his mistake and re-aligning his future broadcasts with the values of truth and responsibility.

 

AKAMARA host retracts “ihram for fetish claims”, says conversations staged

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Police arrest 16-year-old boy with gun in Lagos

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3 hours ago

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April 27, 2025

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Police arrest 16-year-old boy with gun in Lagos

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 16-year-old boy, Solomon Ibiwoye, after he was found in possession of a firearm in the Ebute-Ero area of the state.

Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, announced the arrest in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, praising alert residents for their role in the incident.

“Kudos to observant Lagosians who noticed 16-year-old Solomon Ibiwoye with a firearm and discreetly alerted Ebute-Ero Police Division,” Hundeyin wrote.

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According to Hundeyin, a subsequent search of the teenager’s home led to the recovery of a locally made firearm and an unexpended cartridge.

“One more firearm off the streets,” he added, assuring that investigations into the case are ongoing.

Hundeyin further emphasized the importance of community vigilance in helping to curb crime, urging residents, “See something, say something!”

While the police spokesperson did not reveal how the teenager came into possession of the weapon or whether he is connected to any criminal gang, he assured the public that a thorough investigation is underway.

 

Police arrest 16-year-old boy with gun in Lagos

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Tinubu tried to silence me with EFCC – Ex-NHIS boss Yusuf

Published

4 hours ago

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April 27, 2025

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Former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Professor Usman Yusuf

Tinubu tried to silence me with EFCC – Ex-NHIS boss Yusuf

Former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Professor Usman Yusuf, has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of weaponising the EFCC to silence him, alleging he was treated like a criminal for criticising the government.

Speaking in an interview with Arise Television on Sunday, Yusuf alleged that his recent detention by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was part of a deliberate attempt to silence him. “This government deliberately denied me bail to shake me up… all to try and silence me. But I am not someone who can be silenced,” he said.

In February, the EFCC arraigned Yusuf before the Federal Capital Territory High Court on a five-count charge of alleged fraud. He pleaded not guilty.

Recounting the events that led to his detention, Yusuf said EFCC operatives stormed his home on 29 January without presenting an arrest warrant. “They walked into the house and said they wanted to see me, claiming I was expecting them. They only later showed their badges,” he said.

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He described how the operatives prevented him from changing clothes and blocked his wife from providing him with alternative clothing. Yusuf also recounted how, during transport, officers treated him “as if they had captured a notorious criminal like Kachalla Bello Turji,” a notorious bandit leader.

Yusuf spent six days in EFCC custody before his arraignment and was subsequently denied bail, a move he said was unconstitutional. “Bail is a constitutionally guaranteed right for any accused person, except in cases of capital offences or terrorism, and my case was neither,” he said.

The denial of bail forced Yusuf to spend an additional 24 days at Kuje Prison. He characterised his imprisonment as a period of “retreat for rest, prayers, and reflection,” insisting it only strengthened his spirit.

“The whole purpose was for the government of President Bola Tinubu to try to silence any form of dissent,” Yusuf said. “This is coming from a president who himself was once a NADECO activist — someone who fought against the military dictatorship.”

He warned that the current administration is attempting to stifle democratic criticism and create a “one-party dictatorial state.”

Yusuf was appointed executive secretary of the NHIS in 2016 by former President Muhammadu Buhari. He was suspended in 2017 and again in 2018 by the health minister and the NHIS board over allegations of corruption, and was eventually removed from office in 2019.

Tinubu tried to silence me with EFCC – Ex-NHIS boss Yusuf

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