The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the African Union (AU) Commission have enjoined Nigeria and other African countries to increase their national health budgets. While WHO tasked them to increase annual health spending to at least 20 per cent, the AU Commission urged them to allocate 15 per cent of their budget to health. Nigeria and other African countries must heed the timely advice of the world and regional bodies. Nigeria in particular must do the needful because its annual health budget is too inadequate to shoulder its disease burden and other health needs.

Sadly, Nigeria has neither met the regional nor the global health budget threshold. In 2025, the federal government has budgeted N2.56 trillion, which is approximately 5.18 per cent of the total national budget to health. It represents a 58.53 per cent increase from the 2024 health budget, which was N1.62 trillion. Although there is a significant increase in the amount of funds allocated to the health sector in 2025, it still falls short of the Abuja Declaration of 2001, which recommended that African countries should allocate at least 15 per cent of their annual national budgets to the health sector. Nigeria’s current budgetary allocations for 2024 and 2025 fall short of the Abuja Declaration benchmark. The Abuja Declaration of 2001 was adopted by member states of the AU to combat a range of public health issues on the continent. Unfortunately, many African countries, including Nigeria, have not met the threshold of that declaration, as their budgetary allocations for health are still below 15 per cent. Meeting the Abuja Declaration target for the health sector is important because it would help to address the many health challenges ravaging African countries, including Nigeria.

All tiers of government must be involved in tackling our health challenges. Although the federal government has a bigger responsibility to take care of the health sector at the national level, states and local government areas also have responsibilities to take care of the health sector at their various levels. All federal university teaching hospitals, as well as all federal government-owned general hospitals must be upgraded and equipped to international standards. It is sad that most teaching hospitals across the country do not have regular electricity supply and other basic health amenities. Apart from the danger this poses for patients, it has a larger implication for medical students who are training to become doctors and health workers.  Also, the teaching hospitals of many state universities are in a total state of disrepair. Therefore, the state governments should rise to the occasion and ensure that these medical establishments are well equipped for optimal performance. The local governments across the country have a huge responsibility to maintain the healthcare system in their localities so that the indigent and vulnerable can have easy access to medical facilities. Local governments should revive primary health centres across the country.

Increasing the annual health spending of Nigeria and other African countries will reduce the out-of-pocket spending. Nigeria can also address this through a pragmatic and sustainable health insurance scheme. The government can also offer free medical treatment to pregnant women, children and the elderly as a way of curbing out-of-pocket medical spending. Available figures show that Nigeria’s out-of-pocket health spending is very high, and accounts for 75 per cent of total health expenditure as of 2024. This is driven largely by low health insurance coverage. Only 10 per cent of Nigerians have health insurance. The shortfall in the funding of Nigeria’s health sector raises concerns about the country’s ability to meet the citizens’ healthcare needs and achieve the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030. As a result of the poor funding of the health sector, millions of Nigerians rely on private health facilities for their healthcare needs. Unfortunately, some of these facilities are not adequately equipped or have the specialists to cater for their medical needs.

Also, all tiers of government should intentionally increase their annual health budgets in line with WHO and AU recommendations. This will also enable them upgrade their health care delivery systems. It is axiomatic that a healthy nation is a wealthy nation. We cannot reach such a milestone without adequate funding of our health sector. Considering our high disease burden, we need more health funding to overcome the daunting health challenges.

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