Experts urge effective resource mobilisation for health
Experts have called for a more effective resource mobilisation strategy for the health sector. They made the call in Abuja during a dissemination meeting on lessons and achievements on the Federal Ministry of Health’s Budget Process Reform organised by the ministry, Results for Development (R4D) and Sydani Initiative for International Development. Dr Hope Uweja, Country […]
Experts have called for a more effective resource mobilisation strategy for the health sector.
They made the call in Abuja during a dissemination meeting on lessons and achievements on the Federal Ministry of Health’s Budget Process Reform organised by the ministry, Results for Development (R4D) and Sydani Initiative for International Development.
Dr Hope Uweja, Country Director, Results for Development (R4D) Nigeria, said the country’s health budget is still far below the minimum agreed upon by African nations in the Abuja Declaration which stipulates that a minimum of 15% of the annual budget be allocated to the health sector.
He said doing so helps strengthen the country’s health system and enables it to respond effectively to pandemics like the COVID-19.
He said since 2017, the health ministry, with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and technical support from Results for Development (R4D) and Sydani Initiative for International Development, has been reforming its budget formulation, execution and monitoring processes.
He said that was done with the aim of ensuring that the health budget is informed by national and sectoral priorities and leads to a measurable improvement in health outcomes.
Minister of Health Dr Osagie Ehanire said the efforts so far put into the budget process reforms have started yielding good results which manifested in the quick preparation and submission of the ministry’s 2021 Annual Budget to the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning for onward transmission to the National Assembly and eventual passage into law.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Abdulaziz Mashi Abdullahi, the minister said, “As you are all aware, the defence of the Federal Ministry of Health 2021 Fiscal Year Budget at the National Assembly has been concluded and we are awaiting final approval.”
Minister of State, Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora, who was represented by his Special Technical Assistant, Dr. David Atunwo, said some achievements from the reforms to date are creation of structures and processes to institutionalise more strategic budgeting, and conducting rapid capacity assessment of the departmental planning cells which used key findings to launch an annual mock budget exercise, among others.