Nigerians who are disillusioned over the corruption scandals rocking the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF) and some ex-governors would oppose the proposed nine percent tax on phone calls for healthcare. They would argue that the political elites harness such resources and go ahead to embezzle them. They would point at the failures of similar fit-for-purpose taxes like the TETFUND for tertiary education, and toll-gate and petroleum taxes to fix the roads, which have not achieved the purposes they were set up for.
Section 26(1)(c) of the National Health Insurance Authority Law, signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, provides the source of money for the Vulnerable Group Fund to include “telecommunications tax, not less than one kobo per second of GSM calls”. The law defines the vulnerable group as children under five, pregnant women, the aged, physically and mentally challenged persons, and the indigent “as may be defined from time to time”.
According to experts, considering the volume of calls made by Nigerians, the new telecommunication law will generate about N90.49bn. That is a huge sum, which if well utilised will alleviate the health access for the vulnerable members of the society. So, we support the proposed taxation, knowing that if it is well managed, it could alleviate the embarrassing state of public health care in Nigeria. Like other Nigerians, we consider it embarrassing that citizens affected by serious ailments have to go begging in the public media before they can get some succour.
Such embarrassing helplessness affects even those who were considered welloff in the past. There are also many who suffer from ailments which require huge resources to either cure or manage, like cancer, and such persons, even if rich, become vulnerable after few months of expensive treatment. There is also the need for resources to rehabilitate the poor health infrastructure across the country.
While regrettably, past investments by present and previous governments have not yielded much result, it is absolutely necessary that the secondary and tertiary public health facilities are rehabilitated, since most Nigerians cannot afford private hospitals when afflicted by certain types of ailment. So, such a tax, if well harnessed, will enable the vulnerable pay for health treatment which in turn will aid the equipping of hospitals across the country.
The proposed tax can also stem the outflow of scarce foreign exchange. For as long as our local health facility is in poor shape, privileged Nigerians in public and private sectors would continue to pile pressure on the foreign exchange, in their desperation to access foreign medical treatment. The ordinary Nigerians suffer a double whammy, when public officials neglect local hospitals and take from the scarce national resources to travel abroad to treat themselves.
Furthermore, the poor state of health facilities encourage brain drain that is further depleting the human resource in public health. With poor medical infrastructure, highly trained medical personnel seek professional fulfilment outside the country. If access by the vulnerable is enhanced and the medical infrastructure is improved, Nigeria may return to the era where Africans and non-Africans come to Nigeria for medical tourism.
Of course a healthy nation is a wealthy nation. If the vulnerable citizens could have easier access, then the majority would be in good health of mind and body. Such a healthy population would improve the gross domestic product and that would impact on security and other challenges currently facing the country. An improved access would also affect child mortality rate and life expectancy.
Indeed, the overall impact of such taxation for the vulnerable members of the society cannot be quantified. Even the telecommunication operators who oppose the taxation would be satiated if the harnessed resources are used to achieve the desired result.