Ahead of the presidential submission of the 2017 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly, some Health Workers’ Unions in Abuja have asked the federal government to pay attention to the issues of universal health coverage.
The health workers who marched through the streets of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, appealed to the government to increase budget for health from the current 4.5 per cent to the 15 per cent adopted by the African Union 15 years ago.
According to them, only eight countries in Africa excluding Nigeria, have tried to implement the Abuja declaration of 2001 where African leaders committed to using 15 per cent of their budget to fund the health sector.
Founding Partner Health System Consult, Nkata Chuku, believes that the Nigerian government has not walked the talk, hence, the need to create more awareness on the issue.
Also, the Chairman National Immunization Task Team, Ben Anyaele, is one of those who believe that the current dwindling national revenue is not an excuse for the government not to fund the sector adequately.
The health workers are therefore calling on President Muhamadu Buhari to revisit the Abuja declaration before submitting the 2017 budget to the National Assembly.
Out of the 6.08 trillion Naira federal government budget for 2016, 220.7 billion Naira was earmarked to fund the health sector.
However, some of the protesters insist that the reality in the health sector is a far cry from what government claims to have spent.
