President Bola Tinubu has expressed his intention to raise the annual budgetary allocation to the health sector by 10 percent, with the possibility of further increases if managed prudently.
The Special Adviser to the President on Health, Salma Ibrahim-Anas, made this announcement during a Health Summit focused on taxing sugary drinks and other fiscal policies for healthcare financing.
The event was organized by Gatefield in partnership with the National Action on Sugar Reduction Coalition and the World Bank in Abuja on Tuesday. Ibrahim-Anas emphasized that health and financing for health are key priorities of the Tinubu-led administration and expressed concern over the current low budgetary allocation to the sector, which is presently below 5%.
She said: “The president himself, even before anybody advocated, has said he is going to increase allocation for health. He will start with 10% of the total budgetary allocation which must go to health and that is just the beginning.
“Based on our demonstration of capacity to utilize, and an indication of accountability, he is going to increase more and that is just the beginning. He has challenged us to do that, to demonstrate those capacities. And he is ready to support us, to mobilize additional resources wherever they are.”
Ibrahim-Anas also provided reassurance that the revenue generated from sugar taxes would be primarily dedicated to the health sector or, at the very least, a significant portion of it. She expressed concern over Nigeria’s excessive consumption of sugar drinks, which has contributed to a rise in non-communicable diseases, accounting for nearly 29 percent of deaths.
Furthermore, the special adviser revealed the government’s plans to increase the number of Primary Health Care centers from one per ward to two per ward.
During the summit, stakeholders and experts advocated for a pro-health tax policy agenda, emphasizing the importance of committing substantial funds from sugar tax to healthcare once it is implemented.
It is worth noting that President Tinubu had temporarily suspended the implementation of Taxes on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) until September.
Adewumi Emorura, the Lead Strategist at Gatefield, highlighted the potential of taxes on sugar and tobacco as a means to generate funds for health and nutrition interventions.
“Nobody talks about the 11 million people with diabetes, the millions of people exposed to abdominal obesity. It is a real thing affecting Nigerians and it is associated with hypertension, stroke, and cancer. Only 6% (tax) is going to health,” Emorura stated.
For his part, President of the National Action on Sugar Reduction Coalition, Adamu Umar, said the SSB tax be increased by 20% and utilised for health as well as nutrition intervention.
