Heads May Roll Over $4.6bn Global Health Grants

Who tampered with over $4.6bn in international health grants received by Nigeria between 2021 and 2025?

This is the big question which the House of Representatives is now trying to answer, following its adoption of a motion sponsored by Amobi Ogah during Tuesday’s plenary and read by the House Deputy Spokesman, Mr Philip Agbese.

The house called for a probe into the management of over $4.6bn in international health grants which was jointly availed the country by the Global Fund and the United States Agency for International Development.

It was intended to help improve the country’s health sector generally, though intended particularly to help combat the incidences of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and polio amongst others.

“Nigeria received about $1.8bn from the Global Fund between 2021 and 2024, primarily to enhance disease control and strengthen the Resilient and Sustainable Systems for Health initiative”, Ogah said.

“The Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM–Nigeria) implements Global Fund programmes, while the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare manages USAID-funded interventions”, he added.

According to him, “USAID provided more than $2.8bn to Nigeria during the same period to support HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, and other community health programmes.

“PEPFAR alone has invested over $6bn in Nigeria’s HIV/AIDS response since inception, yet alarming public health statistics persist,” the lawmaker observed.

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Expressing concern at the epidemic levels in the country, he wondered where health grants meant to address some of these diseases had been going into.

According to the lawmaker, Nigeria accounts for 26.6% of global malaria cases and 31% of malaria deaths, ranking first in Africa and sixth worldwide for tuberculosis, accounting for 4.6% of global TB burden.

There were also about 51,000 AIDS-related deaths in 2023, including 15,000 children aged 0–14, making it the third highest globally, he observed wondering where all the resources mobilized to contain them had been going into.

“These realities show that despite billions in aid, Nigeria continues to grapple with preventable diseases. There is an urgent need to ensure proper fund utilisation and measurable results,” he said.