By Haruna Gimba
Stakeholders in the health sector have called for increased budgetary allocation to the health in the 2017 budget.
They said the health sector budget should be in line with the Abuja Declaration of 2001, which recommends that a minimum of 15 percent of the total annual budget be dedicated to health.
Senator Udoma Udo Udoma
The stakeholders stated during a retreat in South Africa organized by the National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS).
In a statement signed by the NILS Communications Adviser, Kanayo Nwajei, the primary objective of the retreat was to deepen technical expertise and broaden the activities of members of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Health and Appropriation, to improve systematic and effective oversight of the health sector in
Nigeria.
Giving a breakdown of the infrastructural spending in the 2017 proposal already before the National Assembly, Minister of Budget and Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, had revealed at the public that the health ministry would get N51 billion.
The session chaired by Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Lanre Tejuosho, assured that the National Assembly would ensure that the provision of the National Health Act, 2014, which stipulates that 1 percent of the consolidated revenue fund be dedicated to the health sector, was adhered to in the 2017 budget.
The statement added that the 16 lawmakers from Nigeria, comprising Senators, House of Representatives members and staff of NILS, also visited the South African Parliament and held meetings with them in the Appropriation and Health Committees and the South African Parliament in Cape Town.
