Health gets 23bn, as Kaduna Proposes N291bn Budget for 2023
….. there’s 1.42% decrease in Health allocation – KADMAM

By Uangbaoje Alex, Kaduna

Kaduna State government on Saturday presented a proposed N29bn (N291,932,185,576.34), estimated budget for the 2023, during a Town Hall Meeting with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), in the state.

The town hall meeting was organized by the state government with the support of the Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health at Scale- PACFaH@Scale, a Bill and Melinda Gates funded project in Nigeria.

The budget which was presented by the Commissioner for Planning and Budget Commission, Umma Aboki, tagged “Budget of Continuous Growth and Development” is targeted to ensure the continuation of Governor el-Rufai’s programs in the state.

A total of N98bn is budgeted for the Social sector with health getting N23.4bn, as against the 2022 reversed budget of N26.3bn.According to the Commissioner, the State is expected to improve investments in infrastructural development, as well as in education and healthcare, which together take about 70% of the proposed budget.

“This is aimed at quickly easing the economy of the State out of the current rigorous conditions towards a more self-sustaining profile.

“Government budgets are public documents which break down the revenue and expenditure projections for the State’s development, covering all sectors: Healthcare, Education, Infrastructure, Agriculture, Social Development, Governance, and others. With the formulation of this initial draft, your engagement, participation, and input constitute the next necessary step.

“Through this, the Kaduna State Government aims to foster partnership and build trust with you, its citizens. You have an important role to play in the budgeting process and the Kaduna State Government has sought to facilitate this in the best possible ways, taking full advantage of our modern realities. With this presentation therefore, we look forward to your active participation, valuable input and robust engagement”. She explained.

In their analysis, Kaduna Maternal Accountability Mechanism (KADMAM), in a presentation made by the it’s citizens, Co-chair, Mallam Mustapha Jumare, it was observed that there is a decline in health sector budget for 2022, compared to the the proposed 2023 budget.

Enumerating their key findings in the proposed budget, Jumare noted that “the total Budget size was decreased from ₦303 billion to ₦291 billion in the draft proposed 2023 budget estimates. This represents a 3.96% decrease compared to the revised 2022 budget. While the total state’s recurrent budget was increased by 40.48% and the capital budget was reduced by 22.75%.

“The state health budget was also reduced from ₦38.75 billion in the revised 2022 budget to ₦38.20 billion in the draft proposed 2023 budget. This also shows a decrease of about 1.42%. The health allocation as a percentage of the state’s budget size stands at 13.09%. This is below the 15% recommended by the 2001 Abuja Declaration.

“The health recurrent was increased by 19.05% and the health capital budget was reduced by 11.04%.Despite the decrease in the health budget, the State PHCDA capital budget was increased by 8.28%. While PHCDA recurrent budget was increased by 33.45%, its capital budget was reduced by 1.78%. The family planning allocation was cut by 10.11%.

“The budget was reduced from N7.6 million to N6.8 million in the draft proposed budget. The routine immunisation budget was increased from N5.36 million in the 2022 budget to N62.95 million in the draft proposed 2023 budget estimates. This represents a 1,656% increase.The total estimated healthcare investment for a resident of Kaduna State in the draft proposed 2022 health budget is as low as ₦11 per day, ₦339 per month, and ₦4,030 per year”.

He therefore, recommend that the state government needs to increase the health budget to 15% allocation in line with the 2001 Abuja Declaration, ensure timely releases of funds for various health budget lines and provide adequate funds for routine immunisation, family planning, and primary health care under one roof programmes and activities.

He further stated that there is for the government to reverse the reduction of Family planning funding in 2023, sustain a culture of dedicated budget lines for FP and Routine Immunization (RI) for transparency and accountability and to also ensure realistic budgeting, adding that activities and programmes to be included in the budget should be those that the state would have the resources to implement.

Earlier in her goodwill message, the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Co-chair, Hadiza Umar, noted that the budget townhall remains not only a deliverable of the OGP, but a symbol of the marriage between the government and civil society partners, adding “it is always looked forward to because it is when we come together to protect and secure valuable interests of our dear state Kaduna across the sectors and is a platform where everyone’s voice matters”.

She commended the governor for holding the last townhall meeting before the end of his tenure, saying “you have remained focused on the partnership with CS and you are finishing your tenure holding strong by honoring the partnership that you started”.

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