FG targets 6% health allocation in 2026 budget

From Okwe Obi, Abuja

The Federal Government has said it is working to push Nigeria’s health allocation closer to six per cent in the 2026 national budget, the highest in the country’s history.

Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, disclosed this in Abuja at the National Health Dialogue organised by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) in partnership with Premium Times, on Friday.

The minister said the move to increase the health budget is parts of efforts to strengthen evidence-based reforms and improve service delivery nationwide.

Speaking at the forum attended by policymakers, health innovators, civil society actors and journalists, the minister noted that the present administration has begun dismantling decades-old expenditure patterns that drained resources away from actual healthcare delivery. Nigeria’s health sector allocations have seen a consistent monetary increase from 2023 to 2025, but the percentage share of the national budget remains low, falling significantly short of the 15 per cent Abuja Declaration benchmark.

The federal government allocated N2.48 trillion, which is about 5.18 per cent of the total budget to health in the 2025 budget – a significant rise from N1.23 trillion in 2024.

Pate said the ministry is “fully committed to ending wasteful spending,” noting that a major shift has already occurred in how federal health funds are utilised.

“In 2023, 61 per cent of the Excel funding went into policy and monitoring workshops. This year, we have reversed that trend — 91 per cent is going directly to service delivery.

“We expect the 2026 budget to move closer to six per cent health allocation, which will be the highest ever in our federal spending.”

According to him, efficient spending will prioritise primary healthcare, hospital upgrades, cancer care, intensive care capacity and affordability for vulnerable groups.