Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, has emphasised the need for federal, state governments and local councils to take the lead in financing and strengthening healthcare systems at a decisive moment of decline in foreign aid.
 
He noted that tight out-of-pocket spending in the country, which stands at over 70 per cent, shows that families are bearing the cost of healthcare.
 
Speaking at the National Health Financing Policy Dialogue with the theme, “Reimagining the future of health financing in Nigeria,” organised by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) in Abuja, Pate said that insurance coverage is still low, as only 10 per cent of Nigerians are covered by health insurance with wide regional disparities.
 
He lamented that counterpart funding for the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF) has remained inconsistent, with allocations often delayed or unreleased.
 
The minister expressed concern over the accountability gaps, especially the difficulty in tracking where funds go and tying them to health outcomes, adding that private sector investment potential is blocked by high financing costs and regulatory hurdles. 
 
Pate noted that Nigeria’s consolidated fiscal position improved in 2024, driven by surging revenues that benefited federal and state governments, adding that at the three levels of government, the fiscal deficit shrank from 5.4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2023 to 3.0 per cent of GDP in 2024. 
 
He stated that this significant improvement was driven by a sharp increase in revenues of the entire federation, which rose from N16.8 trillion in 2023 (7.2 per cent of GDP) to an estimated N31.9 trillion in 2024 (11.5 per cent of GDP), stressing that the fiscal improvement observed at the federal government level was even more pronounced at the state level, where states are experiencing a fiscal surplus on aggregate, albeit with significant variation. 
 
Also speaking, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, said that a mechanism has been put in place to encourage more investment in healthcare. 
 
He noted that the combination of public and private resources available is still below what the country needs in order to meet the healthcare needs of over 220 million people.