Nigeria has capacity to handle medical emergencies — Minister

The Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate

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The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Ali Pate, has said that Nigeria has the capacity to respond effectively to medical emergencies, even as he acknowledged the need for increased investment in the country’s healthcare system.

Pate made the remarks on Sunday while speaking on Sunday Politics, noting that although significant investments have been made to strengthen emergency care and medical facilities nationwide, sustained funding remains critical to improving healthcare delivery.

“I will tell you that every investment is required it’s been made to ensure that we have the facilities that will deal with emergencies. People can choose to stay at home for different reasons, historical reasons, medical reasons. If you’ve had surgery, for instance, 10 years ago by a provider you did in Ghana, it’s logical that you want to go back to that provider, not because you don’t respect them, but if you have a new issue, it can be a problem, it can happen, I’d be tackled.

“We have a national eye hospital, an ear hospital. So there are those specialisations that are available. The issue is that many of us don’t really know the depth of what exists in Nigeria. And so we run around without knowing that there are certain things that we can get here.

“Although in many of the hospitals that I’ve encountered, some of them have trained abroad and came back to serve within hospitals here in Nigeria.”

According to him, President Bola Tinubu’s administration has, over the past two years, increased healthcare funding from about 4 per cent in 2023 to over 5 per cent, showing a reasonable leap in the public resources injected into the sector.

He disclosed that with the ongoing health sector reforms, the administration highlighted four cardinal areas aimed at strengthening health insurance coverage, improving working conditions of health professionals, ensuring that quality care becomes more accessible to micro policyholders, and increasing international partnership and collaboration.

He added that the country also recorded significant successes in the areas of maternal mortality and malaria.

He further observed that 20 out of 36 state governments improved their performance in 2025 compared to 2024.

According to him, 8,000 basic healthcare facilities were given direct facility financing from the basic healthcare provision fund before the administration took over, but the access to the funding has been increased by 5,000.

As of the first quarter of 2025, according to him, more than 80 million visits were made to those basic healthcare facilities all over Nigeria compared to about 20 million in 2023.

The administration also immunised 59 million children during the most recent campaign, adding that between 2023 and 2025, in 172 Local Government Areas that have the highest burden of maternal mortality rate, it was reduced by 10 percent, as well as crossed 21 million in terms of health insurance coverage, against about 16 million.

While responding to the number of citizens covered by NHIS, he disclosed that 7 million Nigerians are insured in the informal sector, while 2.4 million are insured in the formal sector, adding that there are other Citizens covered in the informal sector.

He added that the 50 million Nigerians are being targeted over time, but this can be achieved by providing adequate funding to be provided.

He also disclosed that out of the six centres being constructed by the present administration, three cancer centers have been completed, while three cancer centers are underway.

Pate added that no fewer than 73,000 health workers have so far been retrained, while the government intends to increase insurance coverage as revenue increases as part of efforts geared toward addressing the long-standing issue of under-investment in the country’s health sector.

Despite the gains recorded in the reduction of the malaria scourge, he lamented that out of billions of mosquito nets distributed across the African continent, none were produced in Africa.

He, however, expressed excitement over the groundbreaking of a factory where mosquito nets will be constructed in Ogun State, as well as a reduction in the rate of meningitis, N-Pox, and Cholera, among others.

Some of the challenges facing the country in terms in the area of malaria reduction include population growth, climate change and patterns of rainfall, resistance, and nonavailability of the right medicines, financing challenges, among others.

He specifically lamented the decline in the resistance of families to the four doses of malaria immunisation rolled out after the collection of the first dose.

He expressed excitement over the reduction of malaria rate in Lagos State from 90 percent to five percent owing to the proactiveness of the State Government.

Pate expressed optimism that the two-dose malaria drugs will provide succour to Nigerians despite the resistance level.

While applauding the N2.6 tn combined investments made by all the 36 State Governments in the 2024 fiscal year, he tasked all the governors on the need to improve budgetary allocation in the coming years above the Federal Government’s threshold.

While responding to issues concerning recurring industrial actions by Medical Doctors, the minister, who expressed regrets over the development, affirmed that some of the issues raised are legacy issues, including over N50 billion outstanding arrears owed since 2023, while others are being resolved amicably at various levels.

He said, “I have to say that in the last two and a half years, we experienced relative harmony. We have not had major disruptions in services except for the period where resident doctors, not the medical association, not the medical and dental consultants, only the trainee physicians, the younger physicians, who took on issues that were legacy issues for a very long time, long litany of issue that they brought to the fore, some of which are still happening today.

“Some of which were given, some of which were addressed, some of which ultimately had to be renegotiated. So it’s unfortunate, and we hope that they’ve learned an important lesson, that in fact, you don’t take a country hostage.”

While acknowledging that there were outstanding arrears from 2023, which amounted to N50 billion, he disclosed that the Minister of Finance has been “able to deal with them.

“There are other issues of agitation around allowances and increments, which the Secretary of the Government convened a collective bargaining agreement mechanism, which is known in labor relations, which is on the way,” he said.

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