The House of Representatives has decried the poor funding of the health sector, and declared that the funding gap was hurting effectively service delivery.
The lawmakers’ position was conveyed by Mr. Tanko Sununu, Chairman, House Committee on Health Services, who led other members on an oversight visit to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), on Friday in Abuja.
“There is a huge funding gap in the Nigerian public health sector. We must fill this gap to make any meaningful impact,” Sununu said.
He said that a multi-sectoral collaboration was crucial in developing initiatives to finance health security in the country, and expressed the committee’s readiness to support such collaboration.
The lawmaker reiterated the committee’s support toward disease outbreak preparedness via the strengthening of health facilities to make the country more secured.
Earlier, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, the Director General of NCDC, had appreciated the legislators for their continuous support and guidance toward positioning the agency to serve Nigerians better.
Ihekweazu spoke on the 2020 budget performance and 2021 budget proposal already before the lawmakers, and explained that the health agency had made tremendous progress in its response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
“We have been able to make significant progress in the handling of disease outbreaks, but we need substantial and stable funding for sustainable health security capacity in the country,” he said.