PUNCH
A new report by the World Bank has revealed that the public expenditure on education and health in Nigeria is inadequate by any standard.
The report titled, ‘Human Capital Public Expenditure and Institutional Review’ is an analysis of financing and governance constraints for the delivery of basic education and primary health care in Nigeria.
The report obtained by our correspondent on Wednesday noted that the overall public spending, at merely 12 per cent of Gross Domestic Product falls short of the threshold necessary to underwrite fundamental public services.
“This compares to the Sub-Saharan African average of 17.2 per cent and the lower middle-income countries average of 18.5 per cent. Over the past five years, Nigeria’s health and education expenditure has fluctuated between 10 and 12 per cent of GDP.
“When measured against international standards, it becomes evident that this level of investment is insufficient for delivering adequate essential public services. As a result, a large proportion of spending, especially health spending, is out of pocket, which excludes a significant segment of society from accessing health services.
“At $23 and $15 per capita, public expenditure on education and health in Nigeria, respectively is inadequate by any standard. Of the $23 per capita spending on education, states spend $14 and the remainder is spent by the Federal Government.
“Similarly, of the $15 per capita spending on health, states spend $8.5 This level of spending compares poorly to Nigeria’s peers. It is far more inadequate given the need to tackle significant issues such as the high rates of out-of-school children and child mortality,” the report read..
The World Bank said the spending on health and education is low mainly because of the overall level of public spending which is constrained by the very low overall revenue.
It said as a share of the budget, allocations to education and health were 10.1 per cent and 6.6 per cent of overall spending (federal plus state) in 2021, respectively.
