The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, said Nigeria is seeking to raise about N150bn to fund vaccine procurement drive for the period of 2025 and 2026.
He made this revelation at the 2025 Joint Annual Review of the Health Sector, themed “All Hands, One Mission: Bringing the Nigerian Health Sector to Light.”
The Joint Annual Review is one of Nigeria’s most important accountability platforms for the health sector, convening stakeholders to review progress, assess performance, and align priorities for the year ahead.
According to him, “The health sector budget in 2025 rose by nearly 60 per cent, and the Basic Health Care Provision Fund has more than doubled from N31.5bn in 2024 to N298bn, nearly N299bn in 2026
“Similarly, with immunisation, we are actively seeking to raise additional funds, maybe around almost N150bn to cover vaccine procurement that is needed for 2025 and 2026. We also know that the budget for health is well over five per cent — 5.2 per cent of the national budget, up from just over three per cent a couple of years ago. So, health is being prioritised.
“Our commitment is to close the gap between appropriation and the release of funds.”
He added that it is crucial to maximise domestic resource mobilisation, as today’s world depends heavily on multilateral and global collective efforts.
The Minister, however, noted that reforms and funding would not be fully effective without the participation of state and local governments, urging them to increase spending on health and education to complement federal initiatives.
Earlier, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, noted that the Federal Government is intensifying efforts to reduce reliance on foreign aid, promote local solutions, and strengthen domestic production of medicines, vaccines, and health technologies.
He added that the government aims to ensure state and local governments increase investments in health, education, water, sanitation, and nutrition.
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