Ibrahim Ibrahim
The Jigawa Maternal Newborn Child Health Accountability Forum (JiMAF) says the state government achieved a 78% budget performance in 2024.
JiMAF Chairman, Comrade Isah Mustapha, disclosed this during a presentation of findings on the 2024 health sector budget performance and the 2025 approved budget analysis organized by JiMAF and supported by UKaid’s LAFIYA project.
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According to the report, the 2024 budget underwent multiple revisions, including supplementary allocations and budget reviews.
A significant change was the reallocation of funds from capital to recurrent expenditures to cover contingency transfers, legal services, and the Ministry of Power.
The findings revealed that the overall state budget performance stood at ₦299.218 billion (78%), with recurrent expenditure—including personnel costs and other recurrent expenses—achieving ₦99.64 billion (78.6%). Capital expenditure saw a notable increase from ₦102.239 billion (40.2%) in Q3 to ₦199.56 billion (77.7%) by the end of the year.
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The report highlighted that the health sector’s budget performance exceeded the overall state average across all budget components.
However, a trend analysis of health sector allocations over the past eight years showed inconsistency, fluctuating between 10% and 15.7% of the total state budget.
Despite the state’s commitment to the Mutual Accountability Framework (MAF), the allocation to the health sector dropped from 10.7% in the approved budget to 9.9% in the revised 2024 budget.
The approved budget for health initially stood at ₦36.208 billion, increased to ₦41.208 billion in the supplementary budget, but was later revised down to ₦37.8 billion, reflecting a ₦4 billion cut in capital expenditure. The reduction in capital funding was attributed to low budget performance.
Nevertheless, the health sector achieved 83% budget performance in 2024, nearing the state’s MAF commitment of 90% utilization.
JiMAF recommended that the state government sustain the progress made in Q4 and increase investment in the public health sector.
It urged the government to: Maintain autonomous capital budget implementation for all health agencies to reduce bureaucratic delays and enhance timely execution.
Accelerate procurement processes across all quarters to improve performance and prevent future budget cuts. Fulfill its MAF commitment by allocating at least 15% of the total state budget to the health sector.
In response, Jigawa State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Muhammad Abdullahi Kainuwa, commended JiMAF for its efforts and assured that the government would take necessary steps to further improve the sector.