Nigeria's universal health coverage faces insecurity, worker shortages

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s health sector warned that persistent insecurity, an acute shortage of health workers, insufficient funding and weak constitutional provisions are major obstacles to achieving universal health coverage. The concerns were raised at the 4th Annual Scientific Conference of the College of Health Sciences, Usmanu Danfodiyo University in Sokoto.

Sokoto State Commissioner for Health Dr Faruk Abubakar announced a two‑year compulsory service scheme for health professionals who received state scholarships, noting the uneven distribution of staff—some urban primary health centres have as many as 80 workers while some rural facilities operate with only one. The state has awarded 500 scholarships for midwives, renovated more than 160 primary health centres, restored services in 92 facilities and aims to have all 244 centres fully operational by the end of the year.

Former House of Representatives member Dr Shehu Kakale called for constitutional reforms to recognise health as a fundamental right, pointing out that the 1999 Constitution leaves health as a non‑justiciable socio‑economic goal and that Nigeria has missed the 2001 Abuja Declaration target of allocating at least 15 % of the national budget to health.