2016 Nigeria’s health budget falls short of standard – Score card reveals

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

The 2016 score card of Nigeria’s health budget has revealed that the country fall short of standard practice in the sector.
The scorecard presented to Journalists at the weekend in Abuja
By MamaYe Evidence for Action analised four major items; transparency, participation, adequate resource allocation and budget release.
In terms of allocation, the NGO said that the country’s health budget lacked adequate resource allocation which the per capita health budget stands as $86 according to World Health Organization (WHO).
However, the indicators revealed Nigeria crawling at $43, with the indices decreasing, indicating poor allocation to the sector.
“Standard health budget is 15% of general government allocation but Nigeria only allocated 10% to the sector. Also, there was no 1% allocation of Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) to implement National Health Act.”
The scorecard also showed a decrease in Annual Family Planning budget which Nigeria allocated $5.6million against the provision of $11.350 million.
It was also revealed that the year’s budget lacked transparency, participation and adequate resource allocation.
The scorecard also indicated that there was no annual publication of National Health Accounts (NHA), no adherence to budget timetable/Calendar.
The Health Finance and Advocacy Advisor of MamaYe, Esther Agbon who presented the scorecard also said, there was no “timely budget releases to Federal Ministry of Health, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)and National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA)”.
Also, the scorecard revealed that the Ministry does not consult with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)/ communities to inform on annual budget planning.
Reacting to the presentation, the Country Director, PLAN International, Dr. Hussaini Abdu expressed worry over the out of pocket spending on healthcare services in the country.
Abdu said the situation is creating huge holes in the few resources of the masses in the country.
The doctor who attributed out of pocket spending with corrupt practices in public sector, further said “while Nigerians struggle to take care of their health, there isn’t any major investment in the health services.
“There is a strong relationship between Nigeria’s out of pocket spend and corruption. Nigerians are spending too much, they pay for virtually everything even though their income cannot sustain it. They are made to shuttle between two jobs either for immediacy or for the future.
“They engage in out of pocket spending for education, health, security, water, electricity, so practically, out of pocket spend on basic necessity.”
While saying the situation is unacceptable, Abdu urged the federal government to engage the health insurance system in order to reduce out of pocket spending.
“The coverage, we heard is still around three per cent, practically those who are properly covered in the scheme are those who are formerly employed. Across all the states of the federation, the states operating the scheme are not more than five and that for us is a major issue.”
On his part, the Executive Secretary, Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria (HERFON), Dr. Emmanuel Abanida blamed the underdevelopment of the sector on change in leadership of the country which he said does not allow for the culture of continuity of important innovations.
He said such germane issues have often been swept under the carpet.
Responding to questions by Journalists at the event, the Country Director, Mamaye, Dr Tunde Segun, said for any country to function well, there is a need for resources and transparency in spending them.
Dr Segun who said the score card was better compared to last year added that the need for improvement in the health sector had necessitated the initiation of the score card, which is expected to help the federal government quickly locate where it has done really poor and improve.
“Score card will give you a snap shot, haven assessed the government in four key areas of transparency, budget release, whether it was timely and whether it engaged Nigerians to ensure participation and that is just what we have done today.”
As a way forward, MamaYe urged the federal government to always ensure timely, quarterly budget releases and to increase funding for health and allocate 1% of the Consolidated Revenue Fund to health.
It also called on the federal government to ensure that budget processes starts and ends as stipulated by Nigeria’s budget guidelines – and to always involve communities/Civil Society Organizations in budget planning at ministries, Departments and Agencies.
But whether the government will heed to this advice and improve of the gray areas that need improvement, only time will tell.

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