The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, has said that health expenditure will remain a priority for the President Muhammadu Buhari- led administration in 2019 despite revenue constraints.
He gave the assurance at the opening of the “Nigeria Value for Money in the Health Sector Workshop”, adding that the federal government is working to improve the country’s mortality rate which is among the lowest in the continent.
However, Udoma said the constrained fiscal space occasioned by drop in oil price and disruption to crude production continues to reflect on revenues.
According to him: “The present administration came to meet a very constrained fiscal space. Revenue dropped from N10.07 trillion in 2014 fiscal year to as low as N5.68 trillion in 2016. Even though it recovered somewhat to N7.17 trillion and N9.17 trillion in 2019 and 2018, it is still low compared to the amount in 2014.”
He also pointed out that the dwindling donor funding had…
