The President of the Paediatricians Association of Nigeria, Dr Ekanem Ekure, has faulted the 4.3 per cent allocation to health in the 2026 national budget, saying it underscores a troubling lack of investment in the well-being and future of the Nigerian child.
Ekure also demanded comprehensive remediation and medical intervention for victims of the Ogijo lead poisoning crisis linked to recycled battery factories, noting that the majority of those affected are children.
She said the incident should spur stronger regulatory enforcement and coordinated national action to protect vulnerable children and safeguard their future.
Ekure made the call in Abeokuta on Thursday at the opening ceremony of PAN’s 57th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference, themed “Achieving SDG-3 and Child Health Care through Innovative Funding Models and Technology-Driven Solutions.”
She said the theme captured the urgency of Nigeria’s troubling child health realities and the need for swift action by professionals, government, and other stakeholders to reverse the trend.
The child health specialist disclosed that Nigeria continues to bear a disproportionate burden of preventable childhood illnesses and mortality.
“Despite notable efforts, our country still grapples with high neonatal and under-five mortality rates of 41 and 110 per 1,000 live births respectively, persistent malnutrition, suboptimal immunisation coverage, and inequitable access to quality child health services, among other challenges,” she said.
Ekure noted that the Ogijo lead poisoning crisis in Ogun State, arising from recycled battery factories, remained a major concern, with children being the most affected.
“While we appreciate the shutdown of offending factories, comprehensive remediation, medical intervention, regulatory enforcement, and national action to protect vulnerable children and safeguard their futures remain our demand,” she said.
She added that children across the country continue to suffer abuse in various forms, including abductions from schools and markets, particularly in the northern part of the country, in violation of their fundamental human rights.
According to her, these challenges are compounded by poverty, conflict and insecurity, climate change, and emerging health threats, stressing that paediatricians, as daily witnesses to these realities, are morally compelled to speak out.
Ekure said Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG-3) commits the global community to ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all, especially by ending preventable deaths of newborns and children under five.
“Although Nigeria’s national child health policies and strategies align with this goal, sadly, the country remains one of those considered off track in achieving it,” she said.
The PAN President said achieving SDG-3 by 2030 would require accelerated action, adequate financing, and innovative approaches beyond business as usual.
She lamented that allocating only 4.3 per cent to health in the 2026 national budget, far below the 15 per cent target of the Abuja Declaration, reflected poor prioritisation of child health.
Ekure called for innovative funding models, including public-private partnerships, blended financing, and outcome-based funding that links disbursement to independently verified results.
She also advocated the use of technology to improve immunisation tracking and coverage, strengthen disease surveillance and data utilisation, and expand access through telemedicine and digital platforms.
Ekure reaffirmed PAN’s commitment to building partnerships that translate knowledge into action and policies into measurable improvements in child health outcomes.
“To the Federal Government, our plea remains this: let there be clear evidence of strong political will that treats child health as a national development priority, not merely a sectoral issue,” she said.
She also urged state governments to significantly increase health sector allocations, with clear prioritisation of child health, stressing that strengthening immunisation, nutrition, primary healthcare, and maternal and child health services requires sustained financing.
“Adequate investment in child health is a cost-effective strategy for improving health outcomes and accelerating social and economic development,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Health, Dr Isiaq Salako, represented by the Deputy Director of Child Health, Dr Omokore Oluseyi, highlighted the Federal Government’s commitment to reducing child mortality to the barest minimum.
Salako said the government had finalised the National Child Survival Action Plan, focusing on evidence-based interventions such as newborn resuscitation, integrated nutrition services, and community-based management of childhood illnesses.
“To drive these initiatives, the ministry is leveraging technology by digitalising the integrated community management platform to improve real-time diagnosis, referral, and data capture,” he said.
He noted that Nigeria contributes over 17 per cent of global under-five deaths, with preventable conditions such as prematurity, pneumonia, malaria, and malnutrition being major causes.
Salako called on stakeholders to support the implementation of the plans, particularly in addressing operational and implementation challenges in newborn care, child nutrition, and digital health.
In his keynote lecture, Prof Olugbenga Mokolu, a Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Ilorin and Strategic Adviser to the Ministry of Health on Malaria Elimination, said the role of innovative financing and technology deployment in achieving SDG targets, especially in reducing mortality rates, could not be overemphasised.
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