The Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, has said tax reforms and economic growth are critical to strengthening Nigeria’s health financing, noting that the country needs to improve its existing tax base to inject funds into the health sector.
Pate insisted that stronger domestic resource mobilisation was essential to creating the fiscal space required to sustain investments in healthcare.
The minister made the assertion on Monday, in Abuja, at a civil society and media engagement on the mid-term review of Nigeria’s health sector reforms, where stakeholders assessed progress under the National Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, NHSRII, and the Sector-Wide Approach, SWAp.
Prof Pate warned that Nigeria can no longer pretend that external funding would remain available at the same level, highlighting the competing global issues demanding government attention, including defence, climate change, and migration.
He noted that these issues were forcing wealthier countries to reassess how they deploy resources to the third world, stressing the need for Nigeria to strengthen its domestic resource mobilisation and reduce dependence on external funding to sustain health sector reforms.
The minister’s assertion follows calls by Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, for sustainable financing of health sector reforms that will transform into measurable outcomes in terms of healthcare delivery, particularly for underserved populations.
The Chairman of the Health Sector Reform Coalition, HSRC, Dr Muhammed Lecky, speaking for the CSOs, noted that the Federal Government’s Sector-Wide Approach, SWAP, in healthcare is a good policy; it must go beyond the number of healthcare facilities provided or renovated and focus on functional and quality services.
“A functional PHC should have appropriate health workers, essential medicines, basic diagnostics, electricity, water, infection prevention systems, referral arrangements, maternal and child health services, and accessible feedback mechanisms.”
The CSOs tasked the government to deliberately target rural communities, poor households, conflict-affected populations, displaced persons, and other hard-to-reach groups, noting that national averages could conceal significant inequalities in healthcare access.
They also called for the timely release of appropriated health funds, stronger accountability for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, BHCPF, expanded health insurance coverage, and improved financial protection for households.
The Coalition further advocated timely payment of salaries, incentives for rural health workers, training, and transparent deployment of health personnel to hard to reach areas.
