Providing high-quality healthcare, education, and social services to all citizens is crucial for Nigeria’s development and prosperity. With over 200 million people, Nigeria faces massive challenges in ensuring universal access to these basic services. However, with strategic investments, strong policies, and innovative solutions, Nigeria can build inclusive, world-class systems to serve all its people. This comprehensive article examines key opportunities and recommendations across healthcare, education, and social services to guide policymakers towards investing in Nigeria’s greatest asset—its people.
Healthcare: Towards Universal Health Coverage
Healthcare is a basic human right. Yet most Nigerians lack access to quality, affordable care. The WHO recommends countries spend at least 5% of their GDP on healthcare. However, Nigeria currently spends just 3.6%, one of the lowest globally. To achieve universal health coverage (UHC), Nigeria must significantly increase healthcare investments. Some strategies include:
Increasing government health spending
- Allocate more domestic funding: Healthcare is underfunded despite Nigeria’s rising GDP. Government health spending should steadily increase to reach at least 5% of GDP.
- Improve budget utilisation: Ensure allocated funds are efficiently utilised at federal, state, and local levels. Curb waste and corruption.
- Prioritise preventive care: Shift focus from costly curative care to more cost-effective disease prevention and health promotion.
Mobilising private sector investments
- Offer incentives: Provide tax breaks, subsidies, and other incentives to encourage more private hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centres, pharmaceutical production, etc. This expands the healthcare infrastructure.
- Promote public-private partnerships (PPPs): Collaboration between the government and private sector on building and managing healthcare facilities can optimise investments. Successful PPP examples exist in Lagos and Kano.
- Encourage workplace health programmes: Incentivize companies to provide healthcare coverage, workplace clinics, and wellness initiatives for employees and their families. This expands access.
Improving health insurance coverage
- Boost NHIS: Only 5% of Nigerians have health insurance currently. The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) should be strengthened and expanded to boost coverage.
- Develop state schemes: States should develop health insurance schemes tailored to their populations with federal support. Kwara State’s KwaraCare is a good example.
- Support community schemes: community-based health insurance helps pool resources for citizens’ care. The FCT’s CBSHIP scheme can be a model.
Harnessing Technology
- Invest in digital health: Telemedicine, mHealth apps, and AI can help expand access to care. Develop regulations to enable these technologies.
- Upgrade health information systems: integrate electronic medical records, health databases, and reporting systems for better coordination and monitoring.
- Use technology for remote monitoring: Devices to remotely monitor health parameters can aid diagnosis and management, reducing hospital visits.
Improving Service Delivery
- Recruit more health workers: Nigeria has a severe shortage of doctors, nurses, and midwives. Urgently train and recruit more to meet WHO standards.
- Upgrade facilities: Many primary health centres lack electricity, water, or basic equipment. Standardise and equitably upgrade facilities across communities.
- Ensure drug availability: increase local production and efficient supply chains to end shortages of essential medicines and vaccines.
Prioritising key health issues
- Curb infectious diseases: supply chain improvements and education campaigns can reduce outbreaks like malaria, Lassa fever, and cholera.
- Expand immunisation: Increase vaccine coverage to curb childhood infections. Awareness and improved supply can help achieve 90% coverage.
- Address maternal mortality: prenatal care, delivery assistance by midwives, and the availability of emergency obstetric care are key.
- Prevent chronic diseases: lifestyle changes and early screening for diabetes, cancer, and hypertension can save lives and costs.
Taken together, these recommendations can put Nigeria firmly on the path towards universal health coverage. Good health unlocks human potential. Investing in the health of millions of Nigerians will pay dividends for generations.
Education: Building Capacity for a Knowledge Economy
Education empowers people to reach their potential and actively participate in economic and social life. Nigeria recognises education’s vital role, allotting sizable budgets. However, learning outcomes remain poor, with over 10 million children out of school. To develop Nigeria’s future workforce, major improvements in education access and quality are essential. Some high-impact strategies include:
Improving Access
- Construct more classrooms: Thousands of classrooms remain needed, especially in underserved rural areas. Simple, low-cost designs can increase capacity.
- Recruit and train teachers: 1 in 5 teacher positions are vacant. Hire more teachers and improve training to address the shortage.
- Provide scholarships: Government scholarships targeted at girls and poor families will get more children into school.
- Expand school feeding programmes: Providing meals attracts and retains students. Currently, 8 million children are covered.
Enhancing Quality
- Make early childhood education universal. Ensuring preschool enrollment builds strong foundations for lifelong learning.
- Prioritise teacher quality: regular training, higher salaries, and performance management will improve outcomes.
- Ensure adequate teaching resources. Equip teachers with syllabuses, textbooks, and other tools needed for effective instruction.
- Leverage technology: online learning, broadcast lessons, and adaptive software can supplement classroom teaching.
- Revamp vocational education: update vocational curricula and improve industry linkages to build a skilled workforce.
- Introduce education reforms: competency-based training, school autonomy, and data utilisation can improve standards.
Promoting lifelong learning
- Support adult literacy programmes: With over 60 million illiterate adults, literacy education allows fuller participation.
- Expand technical skills programmes: short vocational courses help youth and adults gain employable skills.
- Harness online learning: Online learning platforms make education accessible to all ages across Nigeria. Regulations and infrastructure should enable these platforms.
- Encourage workplace training: Tax benefits and subsidies can encourage companies to provide on-the-job training and development opportunities.
Better education underpins growth and development. Investments today in expanding access, improving quality, and lifelong learning will create a capable workforce to drive Nigeria’s future prosperity.
Social Services: Ensuring Dignity and Inclusion for All
A compassionate society ensures vulnerable groups can live with dignity. While Nigeria has various social service programmes, coverage remains low, coordination is weak, and accessibility is uneven. Expanding the availability, quality, and accessibility of social services will promote inclusive development. Strategies include:
Expanding Social Safety Nets
- Increase funding for existing programmes like cash transfers, school meals, and income generation schemes. A gradual increase from 0.5% to 3% of GDP will transform the impact.
- Improve beneficiary targeting to minimise exclusion errors using advanced data analytics and community input.
- Shift towards unconditional cash transfers to allow beneficiaries to meet their individual needs. These provide flexibility and dignity.
- Deliver transfers digitally via mobile phones or smart cards to reduce graft and delays. Digital IDs can facilitate this while improving coordination.
Enhancing Support for Vulnerable Groups
- Increase shelters and services for people experiencing homelessness and substance abuse. Services like counselling and skills training can create paths out of poverty.
- Strengthen child protection services to prevent abuse and support orphans. Awareness campaigns and anonymous reporting mechanisms can help protect children.
- Expand elderly care services, including nursing homes, home care, and day care programs. These allow the elderly to age with dignity.
- Improve rehabilitation and vocational training for differently abled people to increase economic participation. Workplace incentives can boost employment.
Improving Access and Coordination
- Establish one-stop social service centres in each LGA to streamline access to programs. Caseworkers can offer integrated services based on need.
- Develop a unified beneficiary registry and strengthen inter-agency data sharing to improve coordination and reduce duplication.
- Provide transportation, mobile centres, and home visits in remote areas to ensure equitable access regardless of geography.
- Encourage CSO partnerships in service delivery. Partnering with trusted non-profits can enhance community outreach and accountability.
Taken together, these strategies outline an approach for Nigeria to deliver improved healthcare, education, and social services for all citizens. The rewards of such investments are immense: empowered individuals, cohesive communities, and an inclusive society and economy. Leaders today have an opportunity to transform millions of lives through long-term, human-centred policies. The time is right for Nigeria to live up to its immense promise and potential.