FG, State Govts Fail To Meet 15% Health Budget Benchmark

According to ONE Campaign, there has been a continuous failure by Nigeria’s federal and state governments to meet the 15 percent health budget benchmark for African countries.

The global movement against extreme poverty and preventable disease said that this has happened despite the disastrous COVID pandemic and healthcare challenges.

A new report titled “Post-Pandemic Health Financing by State Governments in Nigeria 2020 to 2022” found that the authorities are not providing adequate support for the system.

It provides an analysis of government health spending, discovering that while the states’ allocations increased by 12.8 percent between 2020 and 2022, the health sector received less funding in 2022 than in 2020.

The report informs the public that the proportion of total budgets allocated to health by most state governments is on a downward trend.

Noting that Nigerians hoped COVID-19 would be the game-changer to motivate governments to prioritize healthcare, it said the reverse has been the case.

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Decrying the deviation from citizens’ expectations, the report detected more than 10 states reduced their fiscal allocations to healthcare since the pandemic hit in 2020.

At a 2001 African Union (AU) meeting in Abuja, heads of state pledged to devote at least 15 percent of their annual budgets to improving the health sector.

ONE Campaign says two decades later, Nigeria is yet to meet the goal, leaving the people to suffer poor service delivery.

Nigeria Country Director, Stanley Achonu noted that Nigeria’s health indicators are reportedly some of the worst in Africa.

Achonu said COVID-19 exposed additional gaps in the system and revealed why the sector requires ambitious strategies and adequate funding in order to serve the masses.

“It is, therefore, extremely worrisome that some state governments are slashing their annual allocations to health when they should be striving to meet the Abuja Declaration’s 15 percent funding benchmark.

“As the 2023 budget season approaches, governments must prioritize healthcare and allocate a significant portion of their budget. Adequate disbursements should follow these allocations to finance health infrastructure and programs.”