NMA slams FG’s N10,400 per citizen 2026 health budget

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The Nigerian Medical Association has criticised the Federal Government for what it described as the paltry allocation to the health sector, noting that the proposed N2.48tn for 2026 amounts to approximately N10,400 per citizen for the fiscal year.

The NMA said the amount allocated to the health sector is unacceptable and grossly inadequate.

This estimate is based on the N2.48tn health sector allocation contained in President Bola Tinubu’s N58.18tn Appropriation Bill presented to the National Assembly, and the United Nations Population Fund’s estimated 237.5 million population for Nigeria.

The amount translates to roughly N870 per citizen per month for healthcare services across the country.

The allocation comes against the backdrop of the Abuja Declaration, which recommended that African Union member states dedicate at least 15 per cent of their national budgets to healthcare spending.

The allocation represents about 4.3 per cent of the total budget, significantly below the Abuja Declaration benchmark.

Speaking with our correspondent on Sunday, the Secretary-General of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Benjamin Egbo, criticised the Federal Government for the paltry allocation to the health sector.

Egbo said, “The amount allocated to health is simply unacceptable and grossly inadequate.

Even though, cumulatively, it is an improvement on previous budgets, it still falls below the Abuja Declaration benchmark of 15 per cent, and that is our major concern.

“At the end of the day, the allocation amounts to about N10,000 for each Nigerian, and that is unacceptable. We have told them that we cannot accept it; it is suboptimal. The truth is that Nigeria cannot improve its healthcare indices if the budgetary allocation does not significantly increase.