Health and Education
From The Report: Nigeria 2022
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While Nigeria has made notable progress on several major wellness indicators in recent years, the country is grappling with health and social consequences stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic, in addition to structural challenges related to its public health system and the rollout of universal health care (UHC). However, with Nigeria’s large and young population, the longer-term prospects for investment in the sector remain promising. As the government works to meet education financing needs, new opportunities are present throughout the sector, including improving infrastructure and providing modern teaching materials. Getting young children in school will require a multi-pronged approach by the public and private sectors in the coming years. It will become increasingly important for stakeholders to identify future industries for students to be trained in, which should help address the country’s high underemployment rates, in turn, transforming the Nigerian economy through sustainable progress.

This chapter contains an interview with Moji Adeyeye, Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Eye on the prize: Legislation making health insurance mandatory is the latest step towards ensuring accessible and affordable care
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While Nigeria has made notable progress on several major wellness indicators in recent years, the country is grappling with health and social consequences stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic, in addition to structural challenges related to its public health system and the rollout of universal health care (UHC). However, with Nigeria’s large and young population, and plentiful natural resources, the longer-term prospects for investment in the sector remain promising, with the pandemic creating new…

Interview

Coordinated response: Moji Adeyeye, Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), on strengthening the pharmaceutical industry and attracting investment
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Interview:Moji Adeyeye In what ways did NAFDAC contribute to the country’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout? MOJI ADEYEYE: NAFDAC developed its own quality management and auditing systems in cooperation with the World Health Organisation (WHO) that met international benchmarks, and the agency has been working with the WHO to expand our capacity to handle future pandemics. At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic we knew that vaccines against the disease would eventually be developed, so we made a…

Analysis

Operation vaccination: In the second year of the pandemic, attention shifts to rolling out vaccines and preventing new waves of infection
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The first case of Covid-19 in Nigeria was recorded on February 27, 2020 in Lagos, and as of end-September 2021 around 205,800 confirmed cases and 2720 deaths had been recorded. The country experienced its first wave of the virus in the middle months of 2020, a larger wave at the end of 2020 and into 2021, and a third wave emerged in July 2021. Controlling the Spread When the scale of the pandemic became clear, a Presidential Task Force (PTF) was established on March 9, 2020 to coordinate government…

Overview

Strengthening the base: Securing funding for infrastructure and teaching materials, and ensuring all youth attend basic schooling
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With a population of more than 200m across 250 ethnic groups, a fast-growing youth cohort, and high levels of poverty and unemployment, Nigeria has prioritised delivering quality education – although this also remains one of the government’s biggest challenges. A pressing concern for the sector is underfunding, with the authorities unable to meet investment targets related to public education. The Covid-19 pandemic has further highlighted inadequacies in teaching facilities and infrastructure,…

Analysis

Brighter futures: Digital education and training aligned with industry needs aim to keep the young workforce engaged and competitive
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Securing appropriate funding for Nigeria’s education ecosystem remains one of the sector’s most important goals, and is key to improving outcomes. Underinvestment has created knock-on effects for the nation’s employment rate, with the private sector struggling to find qualified workers. More than half of all wage-paying jobs in the country are in the public sector – with around 80% of those associated with the hydrocarbons industry – and many educated Nigerians would prefer to wait for…