The dataset consists of transcripts of indepth interviews conducted with hospital workers of selected hospitals as well as the management staff (at the State Hospital Management Board) overseeing/supervising these workers in two Nigerian states with contrasting economic profiles. State's real names are anonymized to protect the identity of respondents. We instead use aliases ("Old State" and "New State"). There are a total of 16 transcripts - 8 for each state, with an equal number of interviews done at the Hospital Management Board and Hospital levels. Interviews were conducted in July and August 2024. We obtained ethics approval from the University of Hong Kong Human Research Ethics Committee, the National Health Research Ethics Committee of Nigeria, and from the relevant ethics committees of the selected states.