By Ashemiriogwa Emmanuel
The Federal Government of Nigeria has said it is prioritising the country’s health sector with the injection of N711.3 billion in the 2022 Appropriation Bill forwarded to the National Assembly.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, made this disclosure while speaking at a public presentation and breakdown of the 2022 budget in Abuja on Friday.
This follows the presentation of the budget estimates of N16.39 trillion for the 2022 fiscal year titled Budget of Economic Growth and Sustainability by President Muhammadu Buhari to the parliament on Thursday.
According to the Minister, the proposed allocation of funds for the health sector will cater for its ministries, departments, and agencies, capital and recurrent, including hazard allowances for medical personnel.
She also noted that the administration has provided the sum of N54.9 million for the Gavi Immunization vaccine.
“This also includes counterpart funding for donors supported programs, and including global funding. We also provided N54.1 billion transfer to the basic health care provision funds,” she added.
Speaking on other critical sectors, the Minister disclosed that, “A total of N2.4 trillion has been allocated for the defence and security sector. This is strictly for the military, police, and intelligence services as well as the paramilitary services.
“We also made provision of N1.5 trillion for infrastructure, this is representing 8.1 per cent of the budget and includes provisions for power works and housing, transport, water resources, and aviation,” Mrs Ahmed disclosed.
She informed the public that 5.3 per cent of the 2022 budget has been allocated to the Social Development Sector of the country’s economy with the sum of N8.6 billion.
“This amount is provided for the social investment program as well as the new national collective reduction and growth strategy program,” she explained.
According to Mrs Ahmed, the national budget, given its planned allocations, is expected to further accelerate the growth of the Nigerian economy.
“We are optimistic at attaining more optimistic growth as we focus on achieving our objectives on mass job creation and lifting millions of Nigerians out for poverty.
“However, revenue currently remains our main physical challenge, and we are putting all efforts to make sure that specific revenue growth initiatives targets are met,” she added.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Aduragbemi Omiyale