Health & Education
From The Report: Nigeria 2012
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Overall indicators in Nigeria paint a picture of a country in need of developing its health sector, but prospects for growth and further modernisation are bright, as the industry has been improving gradually. Funding for health care in Nigeria tends to be low, at approximately $13 per capita annually. The 2012 federal budget allocated some $1.81bn for the sector, amounting to 5.9% of the total. Rural areas lag far behind urban centres in terms of the number of medical services and professionals available. The introduction of a number of new programmes will serve to help bridge this divide. In education, the rapid growth of the economy has meant an equally rapid increase in the need for a skilled and educated workforce. Federal and state governments are increasingly looking to the private sector and non-state actors’ participation through partnership and collaboration. A number of partnerships have recently been formed between universities and private sector companies to increase the number of research and development initiatives. Funding for the sector, however, remains low, making up just 8.4% of the budget, well below the 26% recommended by UNESCO for developing countries.

This chapter contains an interview with Paul Orhii, Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

A different perspective: After years of being a low priority, the sector is now a major focus
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Overall indicators in Nigeria paint a picture of a country in need of developing its health sector, but prospects for growth and further modernisation are bright, as the industry has been improving gradually. Previously the federal government was relatively lax in facilitating the advance of the health care industry, but recent developments show that greater attention is being paid to a sector with the potential for substantial growth, given its consumer base of 160m. INDICATORS: Life expectancy…

Interview

OBG talks to Paul Orhii, Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)
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Interview: Paul Orhii What are the key challenges for regulating pharmaceutical imports and monitoring distribution? PAUL ORHII: The counterfeit pharmaceuticals market is a sizeable problem across the world. Recent estimates by the World Customs Organisation put the counterfeit products market at $75bn-200bn globally. Developing countries like Nigeria are of course a target for a host of reasons. The country has a high burden of malaria compared to the rest of the world and, naturally, anti-malaria…

Analysis

Fighting back: The government is stepping up efforts to eradicate the polio virus
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As one of the few remaining countries in the world still battling polio, Nigeria has made significant strides in reducing the threat of the disease in recent years. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the primary areas of focus in the global fight against polio eradication are indeed just northern Nigeria and the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Slight increases in the number of reported polio cases over the past 18 months have resulted in the government once again revamping…

Analysis

Counter measures: The pharmaceuticals industry begins tackling counterfeit products
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In 2009 the Pharmaceutical Group of the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria pegged the size of the pharmaceuticals industry in Nigeria to be at least $2bn per year. Other organisations, however, have offered up more conservative estimates. For example, Frost & Sullivan, a global market research and consulting firm, estimated the industry at $740m for 2009. Whatever the actual figure, the industry is trending upward as more Nigerians are able to afford medicine. After multinational drug…

Analysis

An ounce of prevention: Efforts to thwart diseases before contraction have increased
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Disease prevention, a vital aspect of the health care sector’s development, has the ability to create enormous cost savings, as preventive health measures tend to be significantly less expensive when compared with disease treatment. HIV/AIDS provides an excellent example of an extremely difficult and costly disease to treat, yet an incredibly easy disease to prevent through education and preventive measures. In Nigeria disease prevention has the potential to significantly reduce the footprint…

Overview

A shift in priorities: The government understands the need for greater access
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The rapid growth of the Nigerian economy has meant an equally rapid increase in the need for a skilled and educated workforce. Delivering quality education to students in an emerging market of 160m people presents a number of challenges and opportunities that will have a great impact on the future of the country. There have been signs of improvement in the sector, but there is still much work to be done. Increasingly, federal and state governments are looking to the private sector and non-state…

Analysis

University bound: Availability of tertiary programmes looks set to increase
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In his Democracy Day address in May 2012, President Goodluck Jonathan declared, “At the tertiary level, it is the policy of this administration that every state will have a federal university.” This vision has been backed up by some action, as his administration has overseen the establishment of nine new federal tertiary institutions since 2011, raising the total number of universities in the country to 124. Each of the nine new universities received an initial allotment of $9.79m. The endeavour…