Nigeria’s life expectancy stagnates on decade-long underinvestment

A decade of underinvestment in healthcare and public services has left Nigeria’s life expectancy stagnating at 63 years. BusinessDay’s World Health Organisation (WHO) data analysis shows that life expectancy grew by 22.6 percent from 51.7 years in 2014 to 63.4 years in 2021 and has stagnated until 2024. Nigeria allocated a minor portion of its national health budget (N1.14 trillion) to capital health expenditure within this period. According to the Budget Office of the Federation, the larger portion (N3.39 trillion) was allotted to rec