A SaharaReporters’ review of budget performance reports has shown that states in Nigeria prioritised spending on refreshments, foodstuffs, welfare packages over providing healthcare infrastructure.

There is currently an outbreak of cholera and the recent flooding in some states can worsen the outbreak or cause the outbreak of other vector-borne diseases in the country. Already many states have been tipped to suffer from flooding and cholera which can be exacerbated by flooding.

A strong health sector is usually relied upon to handle the outbreaks of these diseases. Already, the Nigerian health sector suffers from a myriad of challenges including poor facilities, lack of adequate infrastructure and insufficient funding.

According to the review, Zamfara State’s health budget stood at N20.6 billion, however, for the first three months of 2024, nothing was spent on healthcare.

In contrast, the sum of N11.3 million was spent on refreshment and meals. Welfare packages took N128.6 million while protocol traditional gifts took N23 million.

In Kogi State, the provision for capital projects in the health sector budget for 2024 stood at N5.7 billion while the actual expenditure was N384 million. However, the state already spent N1.59 billion on honorarium, refreshment, meals and welfare in the first three months of the year.

Osun’s capital expenditure budget for its health sector stood at N6.2 billion, however, N186 million has been spent. In the same period, foodstuff and catering took N31 million while refreshments and meals stood at N261.2 million.

The state also spent N184 million on honorarium and sitting allowances.

In Nasarawa State health sector capital expenditure budget stands at N7.1 billion for 2024, but in the first three months, only N53 million was spent by the state. However, in those first three months, foodstuffs cost N7.1 million while refreshments and meals stood at N95.3 million

The situation is not different in Kano State where the health sector capital budget stood at N42.5 billion with an actual expenditure of N98.6 million. However at the end of the first three months of 2024, foodstuffs and catering materials gulped N96 million while refreshments and meals took N7.3 million.

In Edo State, the health sector budget was N19 billion while the actual spending for the first three months of 2024 stood at N806 million. Foodstuffs/catering material gulped N20 million, refreshments and meals stood at N203 million while honorarium and sitting allowances stood at N106 million. In the same period, welfare packages alone cost N838 million.

The situation in Ondo is worse given that the health sector capital expenditure was N18.2 billion while the actual spending stood at N24.8 million

Meanwhile, foodstuffs/catering supplies cost  N25.43 million, refreshments and meals, N115 million, while honorarium and sitting allowances took N51.8 million.

Other states such as Bauchi has a health sector capital expenditure of N32.4 billion with an actual spending figure of N625.6 million as of the first quarter of 2024.

Meal subsidy however took N26 million, foodstuffs/catering materials, N36 million; refreshments and meals, N50.8 million; honorarium and sitting allowance, N287.1 million, while welfare packages stood at N363.8 million.

For Abia State, the health sector capital budget is N77 billion while N1.5 billion has been spent. The state spent N35 million on foodstuffs and catering materials, N165 million on refreshments and meals and N214 million on honorarium. This means that the state spent an equivalent of 27.6% of its health sector capital expenditure in the first three months of 2024 on refreshments, foodstuffs and meals.