Bill Gates, chairman of the Gates Foundation, has said the Nigerian government’s spending on healthcare is “very small” and insufficient to address the country’s longstanding challenges.
Speaking at a media roundtable on Wednesday, Gates said high maternal and child mortality rates will remain unchanged unless investment in healthcare is significantly increased.
The billionaire philanthropist said he had discussed the matter with President Bola Tinubu, stressing the need to expand the country’s health budget.
“Well, the amount of money Nigeria spends on health care is very, very small,” he said. “I don’t know why you would have expected that number (referring to maternal mortality) to go down.”
Gates explained that critical issues like safe childbirth require adequate funding, adding that, “If a mother delivers at home, there are certain complications that you can’t solve. So what countries like India do is they drive delivery into centres where they can give C-sections. But that takes money.”
In February, the National Assembly increased the 2025 health sector allocation by N300 billion, bringing the total to N2.48 trillion. This represents 5.18 percent of the entire budget.
When asked if the Gates Foundation could fill the health funding gap left by the United States, Gates said no organisation could match the level of financial support previously provided by the US government.
“The problem with the Gates Foundation is we don’t have some special bucket of money,” he said. “We spend more every year, and all my money will be spent. And so no matter what the other people do, it’s the same amount of money.
“If they increase, I’ll still spend my money. If they disappear, I’ll still spend my money. So my money is not extra money.”
Gates said while the foundation occasionally steps in—such as when medicines are left in warehouses or clinical trials are cut off—it cannot replace the level of support once offered by countries like the US.
“There’s nobody who can match that US government money. And the European money is all coming down. We have like a 40% decrease from Germany and the UK.
“In their case, it’s less ideological and more to do with just getting money for Ukraine or an aging society.
“I’m very upset about it. We’ll have more HIV deaths, malaria deaths, and maternal deaths. There’s just no denying that that money was being well spent. And there’s no alternate source that matches up to what was available.”
In May, Gates announced that he plans to give away virtually all his wealth over the next two decades. He also disclosed that most of the $200 billion donation planned within this period will be directed towards Africa.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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