President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said a total sum of N221.7 billion would be spent on health sector in 2016 – about N38 billion less than the 2015 allocation of N259.7 billion.
The President presented a N6.08 trillion budget for the fiscal year 2016 to a joint session of the National Assembly.
In the budget, capital expenditure takes N1.8 trillion, marking a significant over 300 per cent increment from the 2015 vote of N557 billion.
Giving a breakdown of the budget President Buhari said: “We will devote a significant portion of our recurrent expenditure to institutions that provide critical government services. We will spend N369.6 billion in Education; N294.5 billion in Defence; N221.7 billion in Health and N145.3 billion in the Ministry of Interior. This will ensure our teachers, armed forces personnel, doctors, nurses, police men, fire fighters, prison service officers and many more critical service providers are paid competitively and on time.”
More details and analyses of the budget will come soon.