James Emejo in Abuja

The Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Dr. Tanimu Yakubu, has warned that the country’s continued reliance on external donors exposes its immunization programmes to fiscal instability.

He said despite Nigeria’s dedicated efforts, only 59 per cent of children aged 12-23 months are fully immunised, far from the 90 per cent target by the World Health Organisation (WHO) with 3.1 million children lacking any doses of vaccines. 

Yakubu stated this in a statement he issued after the inaugural session of the Immunization Financing Policy Roundtable Series in Abuja.

Stakeholders at the roundtable included the Budget Office of the Federation, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), with support from the World Bank, Gavi, Results for Development (R4D), and the Vaccine Network for Disease Control.

He stressed that the huge vaccine gap highlighted the urgent need for a resilient financing structure to ensure consistent vaccine access across the federation.

He said the meeting which

focused on “Sustainable Vaccine Financing in Nigeria’s Federal Arrangement,” aimed to address the systemic challenges threatening the sustainability of the country’s immunization programmes.

Participants included policymakers, international development partners, and health sector stakeholders who sought to strategize on innovative, domestically-driven vaccine financing solutions.

The roundtable emphasised that policymakers must prioritise creating a robust domestic funding system that leverages national and subnational resources, integrates immunization programmes into health sector planning, and aligns with global best practices.