Tinubu Government Releases Only 40% Of N2.2trillion Health Sector Budget As Nigerians Grapple With Outbreaks, Poor Facilities

A review of the 2024 budget performance document by SaharaReporters has shown that the Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian government spent lowly on health, water and other critical sectors in 2024. 

This is according to details published on the government-owned Open Treasury Portal.

The data reveals that while the government budgeted N2.491 trillion for the Ministry of Water Resources in 2024, only N92.413billion was spent by the end of the year—representing just 3.71% of the allocated funds. 

Similarly, the Federal Ministry of Health recorded a budget performance below 50%. Out of the N2.2 trillion budgeted, only N923 billion was spent, amounting to 40.50% budget performance.

This underperformance persists despite Nigeria’s pressing water and public health needs.

The country faces a severe shortage of clean drinking water, leading to frequent outbreaks of waterborne diseases such as cholera and diarrhea.

For instance, between weeks 1 and 39 of 2024, data from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) recorded 10,387 cases of cholera—an increase from the 3,387 cases reported during the same period in 2023. In September 2024 alone, states reported 1,938 suspected cases of cholera, with Adamawa, Jigawa, Lagos, Kano, Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, Katsina, Kebbi, Oyo, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Edo, Sokoto, the Federal Capital Territory, Akwa Ibom, Zamfara, Imo, and Kogi among the most affected. 

A total of 87 deaths were recorded during this period.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 51% of Nigerian households lack access to clean drinking water. Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) further ranks Nigeria as the fifth-highest country in Africa for cholera cases, only ahead of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Nigeria's healthcare sector also suffers from a severe lack of facilities. The National Advocates for Health reported that fewer than 5,000 out of 30,000 Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs) in the country are functional. There is also a significant disparity between PHCs in urban and rural areas.

In 2023, Olayinka Oladimeji, former Director of Primary Health Care Systems Development at the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), told newsmen that many PHC facilities renovated by the government are not performing optimally. 

According to him, these centres fail to meet the criteria for an ideal PHC that can deliver quality healthcare. 

He noted that most PHCs in Nigeria primarily provide immunisation services, despite their intended role in handling 75% of healthcare needs.

Concerns persist over the management of government resources and the effectiveness of public spending in addressing these challenges.