Speaker of Lagos state House of Assembly Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa has advocated for adequate financing of the health sector in order for Nigeria to achieve the Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Obasa was speaking at a two-day programme aimed at enhancing the salience and capacities of legislators and key stakeholders in the Lagos state health sector to catalyse Nigeria’s progress towards universal health coverage.
At the event organised by the Lagos state House of Assembly in conjunction with Legislative Advocative Initiative for Sustainable Development (LISDE), the speaker, who was represented by his deputy, Wasiu Eshilokun, harped on the imperative of more funding for the health sector.
“To my mind, the biggest challenge facing the health sector in Nigeria is lack of adequate financing. This is because none of the other problems is too obscure to identify or complicated to solve, but Achilles’ heel is the wherewithal to the solution,” he said.
Speaking with journalists at the venue of the programme in Lagos, the Executive Director of LISDEL, Juliana Abude-Aribo, gave the Lagos government a pass mark regarding health financing while also acknowledging that a lot could still be done.
When asked about her assessment of Lagos’ effort towards achieving the Universal Health Coverage, she said, “Lagos is doing relatively well, there are areas of course that need to be improved upon.”
