According to Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Nigeria’s population have suffered as a result of previous governments’ underinvestment in health and education.
Obi bemoaned the fact that, like earlier budgets, the 2023 annual budget did not give health and education a priority in order to raise the nation’s human development index.
During his Monday speech at the Chatham House in London, he made this clear.
The former governor of Anambra state bemoaned the fact that this year’s budget’s annual percentages for health and education were greater than the proportion allotted for the six-month fuel subsidy.
He said, “On the issue of health, yes we have a problem with health. We have under-invested because our government have not prioritised our development agenda.
“Everybody knows that the only measure of development acceptable globally today is the human development index. And this depends on three items –health being one of them.
“From 2015 to 2021, the Nigerian budget in health is under N2.5 trillion for 200 million people. It’s unacceptable. Even this year, our budget for health is about N1.5 trillion. Our budget for education is about N2 trillion.
“Two of them combined, on annual budget is about N3.5 trillion whereas your six months’ budget for subsidy which is a criminalised thing is N3.6 trillion. It is not acceptable.”