Nigeria’s struggle to fund its health system adequately came under sharp focus yesterday, as Senate President Godswill Akpabio warned that the country’s investment in healthcare falls far short of the commitments it made before African and global bodies.
Speaking through the Chief Whip, Mohammed Monguno, the Senate President told lawmakers and stakeholders at a public hearing of the Senate Committee on Health that Nigeria’s persistent underfunding left the country unable to tackle predictable health challenges, respond swiftly to emergencies, or build the human resources needed for a resilient national health architecture.
What unfolded at the hearing was more than a routine legislative exercise; it was a deep dive into the structural weaknesses of Nigeria’s health sector and a push for bold reforms through five significant bills.
Central to the conversation was the National Health Act (Amendment) Bill, sponsored by Ipalibo Banigo (PDP, Rivers West), which seeks to double the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF) from one per cent to two per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).
Akpabio framed this not as a matter of budgetary convenience but as a strategic necessity.
“Increased funding is not an expense; it is an investment in national security, economic growth, and human capital,” he said.
Health economists and advocacy groups have long argued that Nigeria could not meet its commitments under the Abuja Declaration or achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) without significantly expanding domestic financing – and the Senate appears ready to confront this reality.
Each of the bills under review is tied to an urgent national health burden.
Nigeria’s status as the global epicentre of sickle cell disorder, with around 150,000 babies born with the condition yearly, drove support for Sen Sunday Katung’s proposal to establish seven Sickle Cell Research and Therapy centres across the federation.
“These centres would not merely provide treatment,” Katung said. “They would anchor research, advance best practices and give affected families a fighting chance.”
Similarly, proposals to establish National Eye Care Centres in Plateau and Benue states reflect rising rates of preventable blindness, while the bill for a Kogi Orthopaedic Hospital seeks to address widening gaps in trauma care, especially in North-Central where road accidents and insurgency-related injuries remain prevalent.
Beyond the bills, the hearing signalled a broader shift: the National Assembly is positioning itself to confront long-standing health failures at a structural level rather than treating them as episodic problems.
Akpabio assured that lawmakers would push for reforms that bridge gaps between legislation and lived reality.
“These are not abstract proposals. They respond to health conditions affecting millions of Nigerians every day,” he said.
As Nigeria grapples with rising maternal mortality, high disease burden and recurrent outbreaks, experts say the conversation is no longer about whether the country can afford to strengthen its health sector, but whether it can afford not to.
Yesterday’s session underscored this urgency, setting the stage for what could become one of the National Assembly’s most consequential interventions in the nation’s health trajectory.
