Nigerian health workers will no longer be considered for employment in the United Kingdom.

Nigeria has the third-highest proportion of foreign doctors working in the UK. The United Kingdom government has decided to stop considering Nigerian health workers for recruitment after adding Nigeria to the red list of countries that should not be targeted for recruitment. This comes just one month after the World Health Organization (WHO) identified Nigeria as one of 55 countries facing critical health workforce challenges. According to the UK government, unless there is a government-to-government agreement, these countries will no longer be actively targeted for recruitment by health and social care employers. This is stated in a statement on the UK government's website titled "Code of Practice for International Recruitment of Health and Social Care Personnel in England." "Consistent with the WHO Global Code of Practice principles and articles, and as explicitly called for by the WHO Global Code of Practice 10-year review, the listed countries should be prioritized for health personnel development and health system-related support, with safeguards that discourage active international recruitment of health personnel," the statement says. "Countries on the list should not be actively targeted for recruitment by health and social care employers, recruitment organizations, agencies, collaborations, or contracting bodies unless a government-to-government agreement is in place to allow managed recruitment carried out strictly in accordance with the terms of that agreement." "Countries on the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards list are coded red." If a government-to-government agreement is put in place between a partner country, which restricts recruiting organisations to the terms of the agreement, the country is added to the amber list.”