President Bola Tinubu has indicated his interest to increase the annual budgetary allocation to the health sector by 10 per cent with the possibility of additional increment if managed judiciously.
The Special Adviser to the President on Health, Salma Ibrahim-Anas, disclosed this at a Health Summit on taxing sugary drinks and other fiscal policies for healthcare financing, organised by Gatefield in partnership with National Action on Sugar Reduction Coalition and the World Bank, in Abuja on Tuesday.
Ibrahim-Anas, who assured that health and financing for health were a priority of the Tinubu-led administration, decried the low budgetary allocation to the sector, which presently stands at less than 5%.
She said: “The president himself, even before anybody advocated, has said he is going to increase allocation for health. He will start from 10% of the total budgetary allocation which must go to health and that is just the beginning.
“Based on our demonstration of capacity to utilise, and 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.”
She also assured that sugar taxes will be fully dedicated to health or at least most of it, while decrying that Nigeria has an excessive consumption of sugar drinks.
Ibrahim-Anas said as a result, the country was battling with non-communicable diseases, significant causes of death accounting for almost 29 per cent.
The special adviser also disclosed plans by government to increase the number of Primary Health Care centres from one per ward to two per ward.
Stakeholders and experts at the summit advanced pro-health tax policy agenda and for significant accruals from sugar tax to be committed to healthcare upon implementation.
Recall that President Tinubu had suspended implementation of Taxes on Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) till September.
Speaking, Lead Strategist at Gatefield, Adewumi Emorura, said
taxes on sugar and tobacco provide an opportunity to raise funding
for health and nutrition intervention.
“Nobody talks about the 11 million people with diabetes, the millions of people exposed to abdominal obesity. It is a real thing affecting Nigerians and it is associated with hypertension, stroke, cancer. Only 6 per cent (tax) is going to health,” Emorura stated.
For his part, President of the National Action on Sugar Reduction Coalition, Adamu Umar, said the SSB tax be increased by 20% and utilised for health as well as nutrition intervention.
