The 2025 budget’s allocation to Nigeria’s health sector must avoid the same fate as previous public cash purportedly ingested by termites, snakes, gorillas, and monkeys, former vice president Atiku Abubakar has warned.
The Federal Government, led by Bola Tinubu, has allocated $1.07 billion for the primary healthcare sector, on top of the ₦2.48 trillion that was first suggested for healthcare in the 2025 Budget.
It was recalled that there have been few to no investigations or accountability in recent years about missing government cash that have been attributed to strange circumstances.
Atiku emphasized that every kobo allotted to the health sector must be used effectively in a statement he personally signed and made public on Sunday. He said this was because of the country’s declining resources and the withdrawal of foreign assistance for essential healthcare services.
The government’s plans to spend these cash are opaque, which the former vice president challenged.
The Federal Government has a plan to spend an astounding $1.07 billion on the primary health sector, he stated. This sum is on top of the N2.48 trillion that the budget’s original draft had previously suggested for the health sector.
Concerned about the origins of the extra $1.07 billion, former PDP presidential candidate Atiku disclosed that it was primarily derived from foreign loans, with a fraction coming from an international donor agency.
He maintained that Nigerians should be able to learn about these loans, their repayment terms, and the efficient use of the money.
Simply put, he stated, “Nigeria is expected to repay these loans, and it is necessary that the Nigerian people are aware of the specifics of these loans and that their expenditures be communicated in a policy envelope that will explain how they will be spent.”
Atiku called the Federal Government’s lack of commitment to the construction of physical infrastructure in its health budget “suspicious.”
The government’s official announcement states that the money would be utilized to improve primary healthcare services and healthcare governance. At the subnational level, this covers hiring, educating, and retaining teachers and healthcare professionals.
This rationale was contested by Atiku, who contended that the budget might be mismanaged in the absence of explicit accountability procedures.
Nigerians cannot afford to accept a poor explanation for a budgetary provision that does not have a way to monitor how the funds are being used, he said, given that the administration has a history of lacking confidence in the management of its humanitarian services.
According to the opposition leader, the administration has been deceiving Nigerians about the state of the nation’s tertiary hospitals, which lack basic amenities like a reliable power source, even if there have been claims of improvement.
Atiku attacked President Bola Tinubu’s administration, claiming that inadequate money and a lack of openness are to blame for the health sector’s failure.
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HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria continue to be serious health issues in Nigeria’s primary healthcare system, he noted. How these problems would be addressed with the intervention fund, he wondered.
Atiku continued, “If President Tinubu’s administration truly intended to prioritize Nigerians’ health, then his government ought to provide an explanation of how it intends to use this intervention fund to address these diseases in the primary health sector.”
He also criticized the government’s response to the US government’s decision to stop sponsoring HIV/AIDS treatment in Nigeria, referring to the N5 billion allotment as a “paltry sum.”
In the absence of a clear plan for the use and oversight of the $1.07 billion allotted to the health sector, Atiku cautioned that Nigerians would perceive the budget as just another scam masquerading as public interest spending.
He encouraged the government to create public auditing procedures and submit the appropriations to National Assembly examination in order to guarantee accountability.
“If the Tinubu administration does not present a thorough framework to protect its alleged massive investment in the health sector or submit the appropriations to the National Assembly’s scrutiny, it may be safe to conclude that this is another instance of the administration committing a fraud in the name of the public interest,” Atiku stated.
