Tinubu to increase health allocation to 10% of total budget – Aide

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has pledged to increase the annual budgetary allocation to the health sector to 10 per cent of the country’s total budget.

The Special Adviser to the President on Health, Salma Anas, made this known at a health summit organised by Gatefield in Abuja on Tuesday. The summit is themed; “Taxing Sugary Drinks and Other Fiscal Policies for Healthcare Financing.”

Mrs Anas said health and financing for health are priorities for the Mr Tinubu-led administration, hence the move to increase the sector’s annual allocation.

She decried the low budgetary allocation to the sector, which she said currently stands at about five per cent.

She added that there is also the possibility of an additional increment if the allocation is managed judiciously.

“The president himself, even before anybody advocated, has said he is going to increase allocations for health. He will start from 10 per cent of the total budgetary allocation, which must go to health, and that is just the beginning,” she said.

“Based on our demonstration of capacity to utilise 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 mobilise additional resources wherever they are.”

Low health budget

For the first time in Nigeria’s health funding history, over N1 trillion was allocated to the sector in the 2023 budget. This amounts to 5.75 per cent of the 2023 total budget.

Although the 2023 budget shows a significant increase from the N826.9 billion allocated to the health sector in 2022 and the N547 billion allocated in 2021, it still fails to meet the commitment made by African leaders under the Abuja Declaration to allocate at least 15 per cent of their annual spending to the sector.

It was the reality of the deficiencies in their health systems that made African heads of state and government under the African Union (AU) to commit in April 2001 to dedicate at least 15 per cent of their annual budgets to the health sector in what is now known as the ‘Abuja Declaration.’

While countries like Rwanda and South Africa have met the commitment by allocating at least 15 per cent of their total budgets to health, Nigeria has not found the way or the will to do so.

A review of the budgetary allocation to the health sector in the last 21 years revealed that Nigeria has never met the 15 per cent target agreed upon in the Abuja Declaration.

Sugar tax

Mrs Anas called for an upward review of the current tax on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) tax from N10 per litre.

She noted that sugar taxes will be fully dedicated to health, or at least most of it.

She urged the government to ensure that the revenue generated from the implementation of the tax is channelled to the health sector, especially towards the prevention, treatment, and management of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), including cancer, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, among others.

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She said Nigeria has an excessive consumption of sugar drinks leading to an increase in cases of non-communicable diseases, accounting for almost 29 per cent of deaths in the country, according to the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS).

“We are witnessing a new era, with health care as one of our top priorities. We firmly believe that our people’s health is our nation’s true wealth,” she said.

Mrs Anas explained that the challenge posed by sugary drinks and their impact on public health cannot be underemphasised.

Increased tax

In his remarks, the President of the Nigeria Cancer Society and co-chair of National Action on Sugar Reduction Coalition, Adamu Umar, called for a 20 per cent per litre increase in SSBs tax for the government to achieve optimum health impact.

Mr Umar urged the government to utilise SSB tax revenue for health and nutrition interventions.

He said the revenue should be accounted for and used to supplement the health budget and provide nutrition for poor and vulnerable Nigerians at risk of malnutrition.

“Nigeria’s current tax on SSBs stands at about 6.7 per cent, which is below the effective and recommended tax rate. The government must tax SSBs at a minimum 20 per cent rate for it to achieve the intended positive health outcomes and impact,” he said.

Speaking at the summit, the Lead Strategist at Gatefield, Adewumi Emorura, said taxes on sugar and tobacco provide an opportunity to raise funding for health and nutrition intervention.

Mr Emorura said nobody talks about the 11 million people with diabetes and the millions of people exposed to abdominal obesity.

“It is a real thing affecting Nigerians and it is associated with hypertension, stroke, and cancer,” he said.