Health budget: 2016 appropriation still below WHO recommendation
Stakeholders in the health sector were shocked at the paltry N221.7 billion appropriated to the industry which is far below the N900 billion they had envisaged. Experts had expected a total health budget to be higher than previous years considering the numerous challenges facing the sector. Though the 2016 budget of N6.08 trillion is big on capital spending -N1.8 trillion, compared with N557 billion appropriated for capital spending under President Goodluck Jonathan last year, capital spending on health is still uncertain, including how to go on with the new-fangled zero-base budgeting. For instance, cost of immunising Nigeria’s children. Vaccines and the services that surround immunisation next year will cost $1.4 billion, according to official estimates. At N197 to a dollar, that’s N275.8 billion. In context, $1.4 billion is one-sixth the worth shaved off Aliko Dangote’s fortune since February by a combination of naira slump and falling stock prices, according