Wellington Clinics chief executive Charles Ugwuanyi estimated that treatment abroad draws up to $2 billion in foreign exchange from Nigeria each year, urging investment in specialist care at home.
Vanguard and BusinessDay reported that Ugwuanyi made the estimate at a news conference in Abuja on Monday, Oct. 19, marking the institution’s 15th anniversary. Their published accounts gave no calculation or reference year for the figure, which remains an estimate attributed to him.
The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission’s website lists annual medical-tourism spending above $1 billion, crediting the Federal Ministry of Health. In a Nov. 12, 2025, speech, Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare Iziaq Adekunle Salako said Nigeria could retain an estimated ₦850 billion spent abroad each year if more treatment were available at home. Neither source provides a common method or reference year for comparing the amounts.
The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has identified workforce shortages, infrastructure deficits and financing gaps among problems facing the health system. A May 2022 statement from the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation cited $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion in annual spending abroad for medical care. The figures do not establish whether the outflow has risen or fallen because they lack a shared basis for comparison.
BusinessDay reported that Ugwuanyi called for more government support for private specialist hospitals, along with investment in modern equipment and specialist training, reliable electricity and broader insurance coverage for advanced procedures. Wellington Clinics says it was established in 2011 and focuses on neurology and neurological and spinal surgery.
Ugwuanyi’s proposal would direct support toward domestic specialist providers. The NIPC’s healthcare page presents domestic care as an investment opportunity, while Ugwuanyi frames the foreign exchange spent on treatment abroad as a cost to Nigeria.
