The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors has criticized the health sector’s 5% allocation in the 2024 appropriation budget.
President Bola Tinubu submitted a N27.5 trillion budget proposal to the National Assembly last Wednesday.
According to a breakdown of the ‘Budget of Renewed Hope,’ the health sector received N1.33 trillion, or around 5% of the FG’s allocation.
A further breakdown revealed that N1.07tn was set aside for the Federal Ministry of Health and its agencies (recurrent and capital expenditure); N137.21bn was set aside for Gavi/Immunization funds, including counterpart funding for donor-supported programs; and N125.74bn was set aside for the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund, which accounts for one percent of the CRF.
Salma Anas, the President’s Special Adviser on Health, stated in July 2023 that the President intended to boost the annual financial contribution to the health sector by 10%.
Dr. Dele Abdullahi, President of NARD, told newsmen that the 5% allocation to the health sector was a step backwards from the prior allocation to the health sector.
Abdullahi said, “To think that the National Council of Health recommended that a state of emergency be declared in the health sector is actually appalling.
“We hope that the five percent will be used efficiently. As I said, the problem is not just how much is budgeted but how it is spent. Ninety percent of the time they have a budget and there is an expenditure, and the efficiency of the budget is what we need to look into.
“The five percent is below the 2001 Abuja declaration of the Africa Union, and it is below the eight percent that was budgeted last year for the health sector. We hope that the utilization will prove us wrong.”
