The Health Sector Reform Coalition (HSRC) has called for the reinvestment of petroleum subsidies into the country’s health sector. Its Chairperson, Mrs Chika Offor, said this in a press conference in Abuja organised by the Coalition to analyse the health manifestos of the four front-running political parties in Nigeria.
The right to health is inextricably linked to the right to life, as Nigeria is bound by certain laws and charters to protect the right to health of its citizens, HSRC boss said. Sustainable Development Goal 3 is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all irrespective of age. According to the official, Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services. They also have the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”
Offor said that seeing the cross-cutting commitment to the removal of petroleum subsidy, which in 2022 gulped over 20 per cent of the country’s budget, HSRC boss suggests a substantial reinvestment of the subsidy package in the health sector. She said that the idea is not only because the removal creates ample fiscal space to achieve the Abuja Declaration, but because health is one of the few sectors that can provide immediate dividends of productivity for the people and economic growth for the country.
She said it is necessary to inform Nigerians of the recent activities to help shape the political conversation around healthcare in the build-up to the long-anticipated 2023 polls. Offor said that HSRC is a coalition of more than 100 civil society organisations and other non-government actors who came together to drive citizens-led health sector reforms in the country. “Since this period, HSRC has continued to pursue the implementation of the Act and other sectoral reforms which have a strong potential for transforming the healthcare landscape in Nigeria through the provision of Primary Health Care (PHC) services to all Nigerians and providing a roadmap to th Universal Health Coverage (UHC).”