While Nigeria has received $3.53bn (N5.4tn) in health-related loans from the World Bank in the past nine years, state-level perspectives reveal a mixed picture of progress and persistent challenges.
In Lagos, the Secretary of the State Council of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, Toba Odumosu, suggested that focusing such funds on one major health facility in each geopolitical zone could create international-standard hospitals. “We won’t have a situation where our presidents have to die in hospitals outside the country, and we can have public hospitals that are accessible to ordinary Nigerians,” he said.
In Nasarawa, the Ministry of Health praised World Bank interventions for helping resolve pressing health issues but admitted sustainability was a challenge due to limited involvement of end-users in the planning phase.
Gombe-based Consultant Physician, Dr Benjamin Adamu, said the $3.53bn in financing should have translated into modern, well-equipped facilities nationwide. “Many secondary health facilities still lack basic diagnostic tools, our referral systems are weak, and rural health centres are often poorly staffed and under-equipped,” he noted.
Nationally, project funding between 2016 and 2025 included loans for COVID-19 response, nutrition programmes, child survival initiatives, and primary healthcare strengthening. Despite these investments, gaps in drug availability, power supply, and workforce remuneration persist, according to health professionals.
Unless loan deployment strategies are tailored to state-specific needs with robust monitoring, critics warn that Nigeria’s health sector will continue to underperform despite substantial foreign funding.