The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has announced plans to convene a National Health Financing Policy Dialogue from September 1 to 4, 2025, in Abuja. The four-day event aims to address Nigeria’s persistent health financing challenges and chart a path toward more sustainable and equitable healthcare funding.

Dr Kamil Shoretire, Director of Health Planning, Research, and Statistics at the Ministry, made the announcement in Abuja.

He stated that the dialogue would bring together a broad coalition of stakeholders, including government policymakers, development partners, health financing experts, civil society organisations, the media, health insurance providers, private sector actors, and academia.

According to Shoretire, the goal of the dialogue is to transform high-level commitments into actionable strategies that will strengthen Nigeria’s health financing framework.

He emphasised the central role of the National Health Financing Policy (NHFP), which serves as a strategic blueprint for mobilising, pooling, and efficiently allocating resources to improve healthcare delivery.

“The policy is designed to promote equity, efficiency, and financial protection. It seeks to reduce out-of-pocket expenditures, expand health insurance coverage, and move Nigeria closer to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC),” he said.

Despite repeated commitments, Nigeria continues to fall short of the 2001 Abuja Declaration, in which African Union member states pledged to allocate at least 15 percent of their national budgets to the health sector.

 At present, Nigeria dedicates less than 5 percent of its national budget to health, with public health spending at approximately 0.5 percent of GDP.

As a result, about 76 percent of total health expenditure is paid out-of-pocket by households, one of the highest rates in the world which exposes millions of Nigerians to catastrophic health costs and pushing many into poverty.

The upcoming policy dialogue will provide a platform for participants to share experiences, identify systemic barriers, and propose key reforms to support the country’s health financing transition. Discussions will also focus on the full implementation of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Act, enacted in 2022, which mandates health insurance coverage for all Nigerians and legal residents.