By Charles Pemu 
ABUJA – The recent passing of former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in London has reignited a contentious national debate surrounding the country’s ailing healthcare system. His former spokesperson, Femi Adesina, yesterday strongly defended the late president’s consistent reliance on foreign medical care, asserting that Buhari’s survival hinged on accessing overseas expertise.
Buhari, who served as Nigeria’s civilian president from 2015 to 2023 and previously as military head of state (1983-1985), died in London on Sunday, July 13, following a brief illness. His remains departed the UK capital this morning for a state burial in Daura, Katsina State.
Speaking on Channels Television on Tuesday, Adesina pushed back against criticisms of Buhari’s medical tourism. He highlighted that the former president had utilized medical services in the UK even before assuming office in 2015. “You have to be alive first to get certain things changed or corrected in your country,” Adesina argued. “If he had said, ‘I’ll do my medicals in Nigeria just as a showoff,’ he could have long been dead because there may not be the expertise needed in the country.” He emphasized that Buhari needed to survive to lead the country towards improving its healthcare system.
Nigeria’s Healthcare Funding Woes: A Systemic Crisis
Adesina’s candid remarks underscore a deeper, long-standing systemic crisis within Nigeria’s healthcare sector, which has consistently suffered from chronic underfunding and neglect by successive governments. This underfunding is not merely a budgetary oversight but a multifaceted issue rooted in a combination of factors:
- Inadequate Budgetary Allocation: Nigeria consistently falls far short of the Abuja Declaration’s recommendation for African Union member states to allocate 15% of their national budget to healthcare. Nigeria’s allocation typically hovers between 3.5% and 6%, indicating a persistent low prioritization of health in national spending.
- Poor Utilization and Mismanagement of Funds: Even allocated funds often suffer from inefficiencies, mismanagement, and corruption. Reports indicate significant underspending of approved health budgets and a lack of transparency in fund utilization.
- Over-reliance on Out-of-Pocket Payments: With meager government funding and limited health insurance coverage (less than 10% of the population, mostly federal employees, are covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme), over 70% of healthcare expenses are borne directly by citizens. This makes quality healthcare inaccessible for most Nigerians, pushing them into poverty or towards unqualified alternatives.
- Infrastructural Decay and Equipment Shortages: Public hospitals frequently lack modern equipment, suffer from overcrowding, outdated facilities, and face chronic shortages of drugs, power, and clean water. Investment in critical infrastructure and medical technology remains woefully insufficient.
- Brain Drain and Workforce Shortage: Poor remuneration, lack of job satisfaction, and inadequate working conditions drive a mass exodus of Nigerian medical professionals abroad, leading to a severe shortage of doctors and nurses domestically. This “brain drain” cripples the system’s capacity.
- Lack of Sustained Political Will: Despite numerous policies and plans, consistent political commitment to truly transform the healthcare sector has been elusive. The tendency of political elites to seek medical treatment abroad further highlights this disconnect, perpetuating a cycle where domestic improvements are not prioritized.
The former president’s personal medical choices, as defended by his aide, starkly reflect the grim reality of a healthcare system many Nigerians find themselves unable to trust, forcing a national reckoning on the urgent need for comprehensive and sustained reforms.