Bill Gates, co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has urged the federal and state governments to increase their healthcare budgets, lamenting that only $10 is spent on each Nigerian annually.
Gates said at the Youth Innovation Forum in Lagos on Wednesday that Nigeria is full of talented people with a lot of potential, but it will be difficult to realize that potential if the most basic building blocks of life are not available.
It may not surprise you that Nigeria’s state and federal governments only spend the equivalent of $10 per person on health each year, compared to $31 in sub-Saharan Africa as a whole. Leaders need to make a much bigger financial commitment, focused most of all on improving primary health systems.
Making sure clinics are well-staffed and supplied, making sure children get the vaccines they need-all of this is absolutely essential to improving health and opportunity and unlocking all of Nigeria’s potential, he said.
Because of the unprecedented potential of new technologies, the business magnate and philanthropist believes in Nigerian youths to make a difference in the country and beyond.
He urged the government and other stakeholders to ensure equitable access to opportunities and innovations, noting that Nigerians in urban areas are twice as likely as those in rural areas to make digital payments.