A decade long decay in Nigeria’s health sector has triggered anxiety over Federal Government’s N10.51 trillion allocation.
Findings by New Telegraph revealed that despite increased budgetary allocation to the sector within a period of 10 years, health services have generally been below average, amplified by infrastructure decay, ranging from poor power supply, inadequate facilities to shortage of drug supply.
Records show that the Federal Government had allocated cumulatively N10.515 trillion to fund the sector in the past 10 years, according to analysis of health sector financing from (2016 to 2026). Despite the amount, it has reportedly faced numerous challenges including scarce resources, leading to poor infrastructure and a shortage of medical equipment and supplies.
Amid the poor record of accountability in the past years, the Federal Government, in the current fiscal year 2026, allocated N2.48 trillion of the total N58.18 trillion total budget to the sector, representing about 4.2 per cent.
The decade- long budget tracking of health sector financing showed that, despite the yearly incremental allocation, Nigeria’s health system is still replete with underfunding gaps, a development that often pitched the health workers with their employers.
According to the details, in 2016, the Federal Government allocated approximately N221.7 billion to the sector, an amount that was part of a larger N6.06 trillion national budget, representing about 3.65 per cent of the total budget, a decrease from 2015, falling short of the Abuja declaration’s of 15 per cent target, with most funds designated for recurrent spending. In 2017 , the budget allocation to the sector was N252.85 billion, slightly higher than 2016, approximately 4.24 per cent of the total national budget.
In 2018, N340.45 billion was voted for the sector while it approximately N423.92 billion was voter for it in 2019. In 2020, the Nigerian government initially approved approximately N441 billion for the sector in the original budget
. However, due to COVID-19 and economic downturn, this was later revised, with some reports indicating a reduction to around N406 billion or N414 billion in the revised 2020 budget. In the 2021 fiscal year, government allocated approximately N600 billion to the sector.
The sum allocated to the sector in 2022 fiscal year was increased to N724.9 billion while it got higher allocation in 2023 in the sum of N1.17 trillion, marking it the first time the proposed health budget exceeded one trillion naira mark in the country’s history.
Despite this, the allocation of N1.17 trillion represented about 5.75 per cent of the total 2023 federal budget (initially proposed at N20.5 trillion). In 2024, approximately N1.38 trillion (or N1.336 trillion in some breakdowns) was allocated. This represents about 5.03 per cent (or 4.64% in some reports) of the total N28.78 trillion budget.
