Akwa Ibom Govt declares two medical doctors wanted for abandoning duty posts after 8 years of state funded training

The Akwa Ibom State Government has declared two medical doctors wanted for allegedly leaving their duty posts at the state’s Ministry of Health. 

The state’s commissioner for health, Dr. Ekem Emmanuel John, who disclosed this during a press conference in Uyo on Monday, September 15, 2025 said the doctors abdicated their duty posts for greener pastures after Akwa Ibom State Government trained them for eight years. 

John gave the doctors’ names as Uduakabasi Ita, a consultant radiologist, and Mfonobong George Bassey, a consultant haematologist, adding that they are still receiving salary from the state government.

He said the doctors have the option of returning to their duty posts or refunding the money the government spent on training them.

“We will track them until we find them. Any country they go to, we will go to the medical and dental council of that country, and we will stop them from practising,” the commissioner vowed.

“It is in their best interest for them to immediately report to the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Health,” Mr John said.

The commissioner said he would not be held for whatever becomes of their fate once the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria begins to sit. 

The council regulates medical and dental practice, and can prevent a doctor from practising by withdrawing his licence.

“Now that they have not been invited (by the council), we ask that their family reach out to them to immediately report to the Ministry of Health,” the commissioner said, adding that henceforth, all medical officers trained by the state government must serve out the agreed number of years in the state before they would be allowed to resign. 

Nigeria is currently facing an acute shortage of doctors and other health workers as many of them prefer to work abroad for better pay and living conditions.

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