Regulatory Vacuum in Nigeria Allows Fraudulent Doctors to Flourish: How Many Are in Canada?
Nigeria is widely regarded as one of the most corrupt countries on earth, estimated to have lost nearly half a trillion dollars to corruption since independence in 1960. In the medical field, fraud and the absence of meaningful oversight continue largely unchecked.
The country’s medical regulator has been chronically underfunded for decades. Unlike South Africa or most G20 nations, Nigeria does not maintain a publicly accessible registry of physicians. There is no reliable public record of a doctor’s educational history or suspension status.
The lack of a publicly accessible registry means Canadian patients have no independent way to verify the credentials of Nigerian-trained physicians. They are left entirely dependent on provincial medical regulators.
In Alberta, the College of Physicians and Surgeons has approved more than 99% of licence applications in recent years, rejecting only a handful out of thousands.
In a system where the country of origin provides almost no reliable verification, and the receiving regulator rarely says no, the risk is clear: fraudulent or improperly qualified doctors can enter the system with little resistance.