Bukola Afeni
The HERFON Consortium has called for transparency, accountability, and more funding for health security in Nigeria.
The members of the Consortium made this known during a Validation Meeting for the Accountability Framework & Scorecard on Health Security meeting in Abuja.
The initiative is implemented by the Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria(HERFON) , Vaccine Network For Disease Control(VNDC) and the Gem Hub Initiative, with support from Africa Health Budget Network.
Speaking at the event, the Executive Director of Gem Hub Initiative, Oyeyemi Pitan, raised concern over Nigeria’s limited funding for health security, revealing that critical areas such as Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) and public health emergency research were left without budget allocations in the 2024 national budget.
“There was no appropriation for Infection Prevention and Control in the 2024 budget zero allocation, and no budget line was created.
“However, due to sustained advocacy by civil society organizations, the 2025 budget now includes a ₦200 million allocation under the ‘Health Promotion and Disease Prevention’ line”, she said.
Pitan also highlighted that research and development for public health emergencies received no designated funding in 2024, describing it as a “critical gap” that hampers innovation and response capability.
The HERFON Consortium addressed broader issues, such as the gap between budget allocation and actual fund releases, with Pitan emphasizing that allocated funds must be released timely to ensure impact.
“It is not just about appropriation, it’s about timely and useful release of funds. Unfortunately, we could not access data on releases to agencies like the NCDC,” she noted.
Pitan further disclosed that although Nigeria submitted a proposal to the Pandemic Fund, no funds were secured. “Nonetheless, civil society organizations were actively involved in the application process, including the drafting of support letters and engagement with key stakeholders.
Another area of concern was the absence of public data on the timing of government health intervention funds, and a lack of published expenditure reports for 2024 from many relevant agencies, despite early reporting on funds received under the Basic Health Care Provision Fund.
Despite these challenges, Pitan acknowledged that a functional accountability mechanism exists, coordinated by the National Planning Commission (NPC), which oversees alignment with the National Health Security Action Plan (NHSAP).
However, she stressed that limited access to data on budget releases and spending continues to undermine the mechanism’s effectiveness.
The Executive Secretary HERFON, Celestine Okorie explained that the initiative is a wide-ranging collaborative effort aimed at addressing public health challenges, particularly in key health sectors.
“It represents a broad collaborative effort to address the issue of the health of the people, especially in the area of health security. We have been able to identify the areas where we need improvement.
We are not only looking at development but at the lives of the people.”
He added that the project is meant to ensure that public fund is spent judiciously in terms of health security.
The Program Manager of the Vaccine Network for Disease Control, Chika Nwankwo, stated that most budgets in the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) in the health sector and federal government agencies are usually shrouded in secrecy.
“Most of the organisation’s expenditure and financial outputs are not open source, making some of the data not available. Government agencies need to improve in this regard.”
She called on all government agencies in the health sector to ensure transparency in terms of health funding and budgeting, making the budget open to all.
Nwankwo noted that the HERFON Consortium worked with government agencies, media, and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to create a positive influence in terms of health security.
She expressed hope that the Health Security Accountability Framework
project would make a meaningful impact on the health sector in Nigeria.
“We want all CSOs to work together to improve health security, ensure accountability in health financing, and shed light on health-related issues in Nigeria,” she said.
