The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Mohammed Ali Pate, has cautioned against over-reliance on donor support.
According to the Minister, "over-reliance on donor support threatens long-term sustainability and national health security".
He, therefore, advocated for increased domestic funding for mass vaccination programmes.
Pate, at the Ministry’s budget defence before the House Committee on Healthcare Services, said that health sector reforms under the Tinubu administration encouraged international donors to sustain immunization coverage, particularly, for infectious diseases.
He stated that the Ministry was unable to utilise its 2025 capital budget, receiving only ₦36 million of the ₦218 billion appropriated.
He remarked that the personnel budget was fully released and expended, but capital allocations were stalled due to the bottom-up cash planning system of the Office of the Accountant-General and delays in the release of Nigeria’s counterpart funds.
The minister said that the 2026 proposed budget was prepared using the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System, GIFMIS, and aligns with the National Development Plan 2021–2025, Federal Government priorities, and ministerial deliverables.
Chairman of the House Committee on Healthcare Services, Amos Magaji, told the Minister to provide all relevant documents on donor funds received by the Ministry and details of their utilisation.
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