By Muhammad Amaan
Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Pate, has said that healthcare financing is a collective responsibility of all levels of government and stakeholders.
Pate made the statement on Thursday in Abuja at the close of the four-day National Health Financing Dialogue, themed “Reimagining the Future of Health Financing in Nigeria.”
He emphasised that while health financing was a shared concern, the delivery of primary healthcare remained primarily the responsibility of states and local governments.
“Federal contributions, such as the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), and other pooled funds, exist to support, but the core responsibility lies with states and Local Government Areas,” Pate said.
He urged sub-national governments to increase health budgets and ensure full releases in line with the compact signed with the Federal Government, which recognised health as a budgetary priority.
To improve accountability, he called for the publication of health budgets, disbursements, and performance metrics.
He also underscored the need to treat health as core infrastructure and a matter of national security.
“If treated with that urgency, then the assets we build, facilities, workforce, systems are economic assets,” he noted.
The minister added that states demonstrating transparent, results-driven investments in health would set the national standard, leading to safer deliveries for mothers, healthier children, and protection for vulnerable populations against healthcare-induced poverty.
He also called on development partners to align their support with Nigeria’s national priorities and help attract foreign direct investment (FDI) into the health sector through private partnerships.
To Nigerians in the diaspora, he appealed for more strategic support through the NHIA by paying health insurance premiums for relatives rather than sending emergency remittances.
On his part, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Abubakar Bagudu, said that allocations to health and education had risen significantly, in line with growing revenues to states and the Federal Government.
He acknowledged, however, that in spite of reforms and increased confidence from development partners and the private sector, current funding levels still fell short of what was required to meet the needs of more than 220 million Nigerians.
Senator Bagudu stressed the importance of attracting more private capital at globally competitive rates, adding that events like the dialogue could help build confidence and drive investment.
The dialogue brought together government officials, development partners, civil society, private sector actors, academia, insurers, and the media.
It aimed to build a strong evidence base for sustained health financing and turn high-level commitments into actionable strategies.
