EXCLUSIVE: Tinubu Government Releases Only 36% Of Nigeria's Health Budget For Capital Projects

A SaharaReporters' review of the budget performance document for the fourth quarter of 2024 has shown that only 36% of the Ministry of Health’s capital expenditure budget was spent.

This is even though the 2024 budget year was extended till June 2025, according to the document.

The document revealed that ₦543 billion was appropriated as the health sector capital expenditure for the 2024 fiscal year. However, only ₦174.9 billion had been spent as of June 2025.

This development comes amid renewed calls for increased funding for Nigeria’s health sector and improved healthcare delivery.

In September, the United States government, through its Trade Administration website, highlighted persistent challenges in Nigeria’s healthcare system.

"Healthcare infrastructure in Nigeria is still underdeveloped and lacks modern medical facilities."

"The country’s healthcare indicators are some of the worst in Africa. It has one of the fastest growing populations globally with 5.5 live births per woman and a population growth rate of 3.2 percent annually. It is estimated to reach 400 million people by 2050, becoming the world’s fourth most populous country.

"Medical professionals are in short supply, with only about 23.3 doctors per 100,000 population below the WHO recommended 100 doctors per 100,000 population, partially due to the massive migration of healthcare workers overseas. Nigeria loses at least $2 billion every year to medical tourism, according to the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA). India accounts for more than half of this outflow."

In early October, during an interview, the Lagos NMA Chairman, Dr. Babajide Saheed, was quoted as saying that the health sector had remained underdeveloped due to the government’s lack of political will and inadequate investment in healthcare delivery.

“The health system in Nigeria, since independence, hasn’t achieved much of the expected growth, development, and improvement. The health system in Nigeria is still struggling with little or incommensurate achievements,” he said.

Saheed listed poor financing and the “Japa syndrome” as some of the most pressing challenges confronting the sector.

According to him, “Budgetary allocation is still between four to six per cent, terribly below the 15 per cent benchmark contained in the Abuja Declaration of 2001,” while “lack of priority or interest in resolving the issue of Japa syndrome by the government at all levels” continues to push doctors and other professionals abroad.

Over time, Nigerians have continued to lament the poor state of hospital facilities, while the country’s resident doctors have also threatened to embark on an industrial strike over poor welfare conditions.