Nigerians spent over $29.29 billion on medical treatment abroad during the eight-year administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari now late, according to data compiled from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This translates to an average of $3.66 billion per year spent on foreign healthcare between June 2015 and May 2023.
The figures were drawn from the CBN’s quarterly balance of payments under the category titled “Health-Related and Social Services” and were analyzed by The Punch newspaper in a July 2025 report. The publication revealed that expenditures under this category peaked significantly in Buhari’s first, seventh, and eighth years in office. In particular, $7.81 billion was spent in his first year, $6.96 billion in the seventh year, and $7.12 billion in his final year in office.
“From the data obtained from the CBN quarterly statistics, Nigeria spent at least $29.29bn on medical treatment abroad during the eight-year tenure of former President Muhammadu Buhari,” The Punch reported (Punch, July 19, 2025).
The massive outflow of funds for medical tourism has drawn strong criticism from health experts and policy analysts. They point to the persistent underfunding and neglect of Nigeria’s healthcare sector as a major driver of the trend. Despite repeated promises to revamp the country’s health infrastructure, Nigeria continued to rank among the top African countries for outbound medical travel during the Buhari era.
In 2023, the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) stated that the country loses over $1 billion annually to medical tourism, highlighting the economic burden and brain drain caused by the exodus of patients and medical professionals alike (Vanguard, March 7, 2023).
Similarly, the Travel and Tourism World publication described Nigeria’s foreign healthcare expenses as part of a larger systemic issue that reflects deep flaws in domestic service delivery, noting:
“Nigeria’s over $1 billion medical tourism drain now compels citizens to call on government to rebuild domestic healthcare” (Travel and Tour World, June 2024).
While some analysts argue that lower estimates of $1–1.3 billion per year may better reflect personal medical travel rather than broad financial outflows, the CBN’s data—based on formal foreign exchange usage under medical services—presents a far more expansive view of the challenge.
The $29.29 billion figure has renewed calls for deeper investment in Nigeria’s healthcare system, especially in tertiary care, diagnostic facilities, and specialist training, in order to stem the rising tide of medical tourism and save scarce foreign exchange.
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