By|| Goodluck E. Adubazi || Abuja
The Health Sector Reform Coalition Nigeria (HSRC) has urged the National Assembly of Nigeria to investigate the alleged release of only N36 million out of the N218 billion capital budget appropriated to the Federal Ministry of Health Nigeria for 2025.
Chairman of the coalition, Muhammad Lecky, made the call in Abuja, citing disclosures made during the ministry’s 2026 budget defence before the House of Representatives Committee.
He described the development as “one of the most alarming fiscal performance failures in Nigeria’s recent governance history.”
According to him, extreme under-release of capital funds exposes structural weaknesses in public financial management and undermines the ongoing reforms under the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative.
“If ministries cannot predict or rely on capital releases, long-term infrastructure projects, hospital upgrades, digital health systems, supply chains, and workforce expansion become effectively impossible. It is therefore no surprise that the national health system is underperforming,” he said.
The coalition warned that stalled capital releases could delay construction of primary healthcare facilities, procurement of medical equipment, and health technology investments.
“The future of Nigeria’s health system depends on a decisive shift to sustainable, domestically driven financing and fiscal discipline in the release of funds as appropriated,” the statement added.
HSRC also faulted the 2026 health allocation of N2.915 trillion — about 4.98 per cent of the proposed budget — noting it falls below the 15 per cent target of the Abuja Declaration.
It recommended legislative investigation, ring-fencing health votes, funding the Vulnerable Group Fund, and dedicating proceeds from sin taxes to healthcare financing.
Lecky warned that Nigeria’s reliance on external funding for immunisation, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria programmes underscores the urgency of sustainable domestic financing.
