By Jennifer Okorocha
The Minister of Health and Social and Social Welfare, Professor Mohammed Ali Pate says the Executive Order signed by the President Bola Tinubu in June 2024 has improved local drug production in the country as many local manufacturers have been taking advantage of it to improve their facilities.
Speaking when he defended the Ministry’s 2025 allocation before the Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committee on Health, the Minister pointed out that despite the challenges in the country, the health sector has improved tremendously with a lot of good things happening in the sector which are not known to Nigerians.
He said the government was providing world class facilities in hospitals across the country and building infrastructure with adequate qualified manpower
Prof. Ali Pate however decried that only 15.06 percent of the total capital allocation to the sector in 2024 were released to the Ministry for capital projects.
He said the delay in the release and cash backing of its capital allocation was due to the bottom-up cash plan policy of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
Prof. Pate explained that out of the N233.656 billion allocated to the Minustry for capital projects in 2024, only N26. 552 billion has been released to the Ministry and utilised.
According to the Minister, the Ministry was yet to recieve a single Kobo from the N57.393 billion captured under the multilateral/bilateral loan for capital projects.
The Chairmen of the Joint committee in their separate presentations emphasized that National Assembly would continue to provide necessary support through its legislations and legislative activities to improve the nation’s healthcare sector.
