by Mohammed Bello Doka
In a nation of over 237 million people—Nigeria's estimated population in 2025, according to United Nations Population Fund data and Worldometers projections—where life expectancy hovers at a dismal 54.9 years, the lowest in the world as per recent United Nations reports, President Bola Tinubu has the audacity to boast about injecting a mere ₦98 billion into primary healthcare. This figure, disbursed through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) in 2025, is touted as one of the largest single-year investments in grassroots health services in recent times. Yet, in the same breath, the federal government lavished ₦345 billion on the National Assembly and ₦68 billion on the Presidential Villa, exposing a grotesque insensitivity to the suffering masses. This is not governance; it is gluttony, a leadership feasting on the nation's lifeblood while citizens bleed out in crumbling hospitals and poverty-stricken slums.
Let's dissect this farce with unflinching clarity. At the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Health Convention in Abuja on February 25, 2026, Tinubu—represented by Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume—proudly announced that the ₦98 billion supported operations in more than 8,300 primary health centres (PHCs) across the country. He claimed 2,565 PHCs have been fully revitalised, 1,456 are undergoing rehabilitation, and these upgraded facilities now offer 24-hour services with improved access to trained personnel, essential medicines, electricity, and clean water. The administration plans to extend the programme to an additional 5,212 PHCs, bringing the total to over 13,500 nationwide. Beyond infrastructure, Tinubu boasted of retraining 78,000 frontline health workers in the last two years, with a target of 120,000 within four years, and enrolling about 10 million vulnerable Nigerians in health insurance schemes. He linked this to maternal health interventions like the Maternal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII), implemented in 172 local government areas and connecting over 100,000 pregnant women to essential care. He even urged APC governors to meet the 15% Abuja Declaration benchmark for health spending and publish annual performance scorecards for accountability.
Sounds impressive? Hardly, when juxtaposed against Nigeria's harrowing health crisis. This country records a maternal mortality ratio of up to 1,047 deaths per 100,000 live births—the highest globally, contributing over 28.5% of worldwide maternal deaths, with 82,000 women lost in 2020 alone, as detailed in a 2025 study in the Journal of Primary Care & Community Health. Infant mortality stands at 70 per 1,000 live births, under-five mortality at 104 per 1,000, and healthcare access is a pitiful 43.3%, per World Bank and WHO reports. Poverty engulfs over 133 million Nigerians—more than half the population—trapped in multidimensional deprivation, exacerbating diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV that claim thousands annually. Brain drain has gutted the sector: Nigeria loses hundreds of doctors yearly to medical tourism abroad, leaving rural women to die in childbirth due to delays or absent staff, as highlighted in a 2025 PMC analysis. In a land where environmental pollution, insecurity, and infectious diseases shorten lives to an average of 54.9 years—far below the global 73.7—Tinubu's ₦98 billion is a drop in a leaking bucket, insufficient to stem the tide of preventable deaths.
Now, contrast this with the opulent waste elsewhere. The State House—Tinubu's Presidential Villa—gobbled ₦68.2 billion in total budget for 2025: ₦21.348 billion in overhead (recurrent/operational costs) and ₦46.9 billion in capital, including ₦4.76 billion specifically for motor vehicle procurement, often luxury SUVs like Toyota Prados or armoured variants for elite comfort. Reports from Daily Nigerian and BusinessDay confirm near-full release and 99.99% performance on these funds, with ₦25 billion alone for office building repairs—priorities that scream self-indulgence amid national decay. The National Assembly, that bastion of lawmakers' perks, claimed ₦344.85 billion—almost entirely recurrent for salaries, allowances, and operations, with ₦57.6 billion earmarked for SUVs and official vehicles, each costing ₦200 million or more, as exposed by Punch and Premium Times investigations. This is part of a broader 2025 federal budget of ₦54.99 trillion, where statutory transfers hit ₦3.65 trillion, yet health gets shortchanged.
The hypocrisy is staggering. While Tinubu preens over ₦98 billion for PHCs—framed under his Renewed Hope Agenda—the government funneled billions into elite luxuries. For instance, the Nigeria Customs Service proposed ₦14.39 billion for luxury vehicles for senior officers, part of ₦35.27 billion for 579 units like CHANGAN CS95 SUVs at ₦65-75 million each. States mirror this: Ondo spent ₦1.9 billion on armoured cars and Prados; Sokoto ₦4.6 billion on vehicles from 2024-2025, including ₦289 million Prados; Akwa Ibom donated ₦100 million SUVs to ex-officials. Even in 2026 projections, presidential vehicle spending balloons to ₦11.25 billion—a 135% hike—while health capital releases lag, with only ₦36 million from ₦218 billion executed in 2025, a 0.016% rate, per YouTube analyses and Premium Times reports. Critics like BudgIT and public affairs analysts decry this as decadence, with states like Jigawa spending ₦3.2 billion on government house renovations and vehicles—exceeding PHC allocations—while gaps in staffing could be filled with funds like Akwa Ibom's ₦1.3 billion on lawmakers' SUVs, enough for three years of salaries for 8,068 health workers.
This is the grim portrait of Nigeria: a gluttonous leadership sucking the nation's blood dry. While 237 million endure overcrowded hospitals, unreleased budgets, unused equipment, and strikes, elites jet abroad for medical tourism, draining foreign exchange—outflows criticized in Instagram posts and PMC studies. Tinubu's administration, despite austerity rhetoric, prioritizes ₦360 billion presidential planes over health, as lambasted on Facebook, leaving citizens to question: Where are the roads, schools, hospitals? Instead, funds vanish into refineries that never work, VIP renovations, and frivolous perks, per Instagram reels and LinkedIn critiques.
The President's pride in ₦98 billion is not a triumph; it's an indictment. In a country where cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and sepsis kill thousands—stroke as the top cause, per a 2025 Scirp journal study—such misplaced priorities perpetuate death. Nigerians deserve accountability, not scorecards for governors who ignore the 15% benchmark. This government must cease its vampiric drain, redirect billions from luxury to life-saving care, or face the wrath of a people pushed to the brink. The blood on their hands is ours— and it cries for justice.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via [email protected]
Abuja Network News
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Opinion