By Muhammad Amaan
The Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, has said the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) has increased from about $0.50 per capita in 2023 to approximately $1 per capita under the present administration.
Pate, however, said the increase, though representing a doubling, remained inadequate considering the healthcare needs of Nigeria’s population.
The minister stated this while speaking on sustainable domestic health financing for Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
He said Nigeria needed to make a deliberate national decision to increase investment in healthcare if the country was to build a quality and sustainable health system.
According to him, the country’s persistent health challenges reflected decisions made over the years, particularly the level of investment in the sector.
“Health is not cheap. If you want health, you have to pay for it,” Pate said, noting that countries with stronger health systems had made substantially higher investments in healthcare.
He said the funding challenge was particularly evident at the primary healthcare level, where inadequate resources had contributed to dilapidated infrastructure, shortages of medicines and the departure of health workers.
“You cannot expect to drive a Mercedes Benz if you pay for a bicycle,” he said.
Pate said the administration of President Bola Tinubu was working to establish a new national consensus on healthcare under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
He, however, said the success of the efforts would depend on actual investments and actions rather than speeches.
“You will see whether you prioritise health or not, not in how much speeches you give, but in how much you actually invest or mobilise, or the action that you take,” he said.
The minister said healthcare financing should involve more than the Federal Government, adding that the National Assembly, state governments, civil society and families also had roles to play.
He identified efficient allocation of resources as another priority, explaining that patients whose conditions could be managed at primary healthcare centres should not routinely seek treatment at teaching hospitals, where care is more expensive.
Prof. Pate also stressed the need to improve health insurance and strategic purchasing, saying increased funding would have limited impact if resources remained fragmented.
He said the government was working to strengthen the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to improve strategic purchasing and ensure that resources were directed towards interventions with greater population-level benefits.
The minister further advocated a shift from measuring health sector performance mainly through inputs such as workshops, procurement and infrastructure to measuring outputs and outcomes.
He said the reforms were increasingly focused on measurable results, including improved emergency obstetric care, treatment of children, fistula repair and expansion of health insurance coverage.
Pate also stressed the need for sustainability, saying increased healthcare financing must be supported by legislation, national ownership and stronger domestic institutions.
He called for increased local manufacturing of medicines and health commodities, warning that increased healthcare spending could otherwise benefit foreign economies.
“If you increase these resources, and 25 per cent of it goes into buying commodities that are made in some other country, you are just building somebody else’s economy,” he said.
