*Says FG prioritising healthcare for vulnerable population
*NHIA: 1,629 women had free fistula surgery
Adedayo Akinwale and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Mohammed Ali Pate, has revealed that only 15.06 per cent of the total capital allocation was released to the ministry in 2024 for capital projects.
Prof. Pate who gave the hint yesterday in Abuja when he appeared before the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Health to defend the 2025 budget of the ministry. Also while responding to questions at the Second Steering Committee Meeting of National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), a fistula free programme held in Abuja, said the federal government is presently giving more attention to critical healthcare matters affecting women, children and the vulnerable segments in the country.
The Director General of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr. Kelechi Ohiri, noted that as part of the government policy thrust, a total of 1,629 persons have so far benefited from free fistula surgery treatment across the country.
Pate,who disclosed that the total budget to the Health Ministry in 2024 stood at N242, 141,830,564.51, said that it consists of N7, 476,463,610 for personnel, N998, 739,547 for overhead and N233, 656,627,407.51 for capital.
The minister added that the amount was slightly improved on 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.
According to him, “The ministry was yet to receive a single Kobo from the N57.393 billion captured under the multilateral/bilateral loan for capital projects.
“Out of the N233.656 billion allocated to the Ministry for capital projects in 2024, only N26. 552 billion had been released to the Ministry and utilised.”
Pate,who blamed the delay in the release and cash backing of its capital allocation on the bottom-up cash plan policy of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, 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.
“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 Inna 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,” Pate stated.
He emphasised that 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.
The minister disclosed that the Executive Order signed by the President in June 2024 has improved local drug production in the country as many local manufacturers have been taking advantage of it to improve their facilities.
Meanwhile, Pate at the Second Steering Committee Meeting of National Health Insurance Authority on fistula free programme in Abuja, said that given the limited revenue available to the government, allocation to the health sector may be small but it is still on the priority list.
According to him, based on the federal government’s limited revenue, it is hoped that the allocation will increase as soon as revenue is generated.
“So with the present situation, my challenge is what do you do given the multiplicity of needs? So it is within that context that we are prioritising and saying let’s cover the basics like maternal health, child health, immunisation and let us also cover some catastrophic health challenge like cancer with the limited resources as much as we can,” he said.
Pate said there is hope that as Nigeria grows to become a more prosperous country and the government is able to collect more revenue, then this will also impact the health sector.
He said the expectation of government is that with expansion in health insurance coverage across the country, more funds will available to pay for standard healthcare services to Nigerians
Speaking with reference to the new reform policy, he said that people need to understand that the government has to collect more revenue to be able to drive development.
According to him, people always want to see Nigeria develop her healthcare services comparable to what obtains in countries like England while spending less than 100 per cent of what they do.
The minister said that the government is prioritising spending on specific health interventions to cater for the vulnerable segments of the society like women, children and the less-privileged Nigerians.
According to him, the idea of building the economy, growing it faster and collecting more taxes is something that needs to be supported by all
At present, Pate said that the government is basing its budgetary allocation to the health sector at $6 per individual as against $1,000 per person as obtained in countries with bigger economies.
While making a presentation at the meeting, the Director-General of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr. Kelechi Ohiri,said that a total of 1,629 have so far undergone free fistula surgery treatment across the country.
He said the programme which is its six months has already recorded impactful milestones and touched the lives of poor women.
“So what have we done so far? So right now, about 1,629 beneficiaries have been verified and paid for between the last six months of the launch to date, but that’s just a number that we have verified and paid for.
“Number of claims submitted is over almost 2,000 and as more awareness you know about the programme gets out there, we hope that there will be no woman with fistula who will miss out on it and so we’re working with good facilities to take care of them,” he said.
