The Minister of Health and Social and Social Welfare, Prof. Mohammed Ali Pate, has revealed that only 15.06 per cent of the total capital allocation to the health sector in 2024 was released to the ministry.
Specifically, Pate disclosed that out of the N233.656 billion allocated to the ministry for capital projects in 2024, only N26.552 billion has been released to it and was utilised.
The minister explained that the delay in the release and cash backing of its capital allocation was due to the bottom-up cash plan policy of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
He stated these on Friday when he defended the ministry’s 2025 budget proposal before the Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committee on Health.
According to the minister, the ministry was yet to receive a dime from the N57.393 billion captured under the multilateral/bilateral loan for capital projects.
He explained that the total budget to the ministry in 2024 stood at N242, 141,830,564.51 made up of N7, 476,463,610 for personnel, N998, 739,547 for overhead and N233, 656,627,407.51 for capital.
He said further that this amount was slightly improved upon in the 2025 budget estimates to N10,361, 373,890.69 for personnel, N1,590, 382,403 for overhead and N248,316, 907,133 for capital.
The minister told the lawmakers that Nigeria’s health sector is guided by Vision 20:2020, the National Development Plan 2021-2025 and the National Strategic Health Development Plan.
He explained that the overarching goal of the Constitution and the National Health Act is to guarantee the right to health for all Nigerians, adding that the 2016 National Health Policy provides an implementation framework to translate the provisions of the National Health Act and Sustainable Development Goals into healthy lives and wellbeing for all Nigerian citizens.
He stressed that the tenets of the Universal Health Coverage are central to the goal of the National Health Policy, which is to strengthen Nigeria’s health system, particularly the primary health care system to deliver a quality, efficient, equitable, accessible, acceptable and comprehensive health care system to all Nigerians.
He explained further that the policies and strategies of the 2025 budget are derivable from the 2025-2027 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper, which outline the development priorities of the government.
He added: “The year 2025 proposed budget of the ministry was prepared using the budget preparation system on the GIFTS platform, which is compatible with the National Development Plan 2021-2025 approach, which demand justification and allocation of resources to projects and programmes in a given year based on needs and aligning with the policy of government, especially as encapsulated in the core objectives and execution priorities.
“The Federal Ministry of Health budget proposal for 2025 is based on the National Health Policy 2016 and is guided by the new Strategic Blueprint Initiative, which are the health sector policy instruments for achieving the ministerial deliverables of the Federal Government and the global agenda of universal health coverage.
“The National Health Policy with the theme ‘Promoting the Health of Nigerians to Accelerate Socio Economic Development’ provides the basis for the national strategic health development plan and the supporting framework for accelerated implementation of the National Health Act.”
Responding to questions from the lawmakers, the minister said there was the need for Nigerians to unite for the promotion of the heath sector in the country, adding that the current government was focusing on providing quality healthcare for Nigerians in various federal hospitals.
He said despite the challenges in the country, the health sector has improved tremendously with a lot of good things happening in the sector, which are not known to Nigerians.
He said the government was providing world-class facilities in hospitals across the country and building infrastructure with adequate qualified manpower, noting: “We have the required qualified manpower in the country and that is why other countries are looking for our medical personnel.”
