Chairman of NMA says Nigeria’s health system fails without strong primary care funding.
Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Lagos State branch, Dr Babajide Saheed, has urged governments to prioritise primary healthcare, calling for 60–70% of health budgets to be directed to community-level care.
Speaking on a televised channel on Monday, Dr Saheed stressed that strong primary healthcare is essential for accessible, preventive, and community-based medical services.
“Primary healthcare is the most important component in any health system,” he said. “Without it, efforts to improve overall health outcomes will fail.”
Dr Saheed criticised the current structure of Nigeria’s health spending, which favours secondary and tertiary care over local primary healthcare centres. “Any country that lacks primary healthcare has a failed health system. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, governments neglect this basic level of care,” he added.
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Using Lagos State as an example, he highlighted the shortage of primary healthcare infrastructure. “We have about 300 primary care centres for Lagos’ population. That cannot cover the whole state,” he said, raising concerns about staffing, particularly the availability of doctors in these centres.
The call comes amid widespread criticism of the Federal Government’s 2026 health sector allocation. The budget earmarks approximately N2.48 trillion for healthcare, about 4% of the national budget, which the NMA says is insufficient—equivalent to roughly N10,400 per citizen annually.
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