Poor health care, power supply, unemployment top challenges for Nigerians in 2019

Poor health care, epileptic electricity supply and unemployment were key challenges faced by Nigerians in 2019, according to a recent poll by NOIPolls, an Abuja-based public opinion data provider.

The result from the poll by NOIPolls which interviewed a random nationwide sample of 1,000 people shows 79 percent of Nigerians believe that the health sector did not fare well. The trend was the same for electricity supply, job creation, and the economy as 66 percent, 65 percent, and 64 percent, respectively, said the sectors did not fare well.

“Access to quality and affordable health care remains an issue to Nigerians due to challenges like inadequate capital spending, poor pay, outdated technologies, poor infrastructure, sharp disparities in the availability of medical facilities across the country, high mortality rates, a weakened primary health care system, incessant strikes by doctors and health workers,” according to the report dated December 24.

Nigeria was rated 187th out of 195 countries in Healthcare Access and Quality (HAQ) Index in 2018 by the World Health Organisation, a sign that Africa’s most populous nation is in urgent need of adequate capital funding to boost healthcare delivery.

Meanwhile, a capital expenditure of N46 billion was allocated to the Ministry of Health in the 2020 budget. The fund is N5.4 billion lower than the N51.1 billion allocated in the 2019 budget.

On the issue of electricity supply, 66 percent of the 1,000 respondents stated that power failure has a very debilitating effect on economic growth given that electricity supply is fundamental to productivity. The same number of people said that the sector has not fared well in 2019.

“Adequate and efficient utilisation of energy sources to meet the existing demand is essential for high levels of economic growth in Nigeria,” NOIPolls said in the report.

Similarly, 65 percent of adult Nigerians reported that Nigeria has not fared well with regards to job creation.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), unemployment rate in Nigeria increased to a high of 23.10 percent in the third quarter of 2018 from 22.70 percent in the second quarter of 2018.

A breakdown of the report by the public opinion data provider revealed that out of the 1,000 respondents that were interviewed, 650 complained about lack of job in Nigeria. According to them, the situation could be as a result of the high rate of unemployment and under-employment in the country as well as the thousands of Nigerians who join the labour market on a monthly basis.

“An increasing unemployment rate in Nigeria could have adverse effects on both the economy and the society. For instance, reduction in the national output of goods and services, increased rural-urban migration, high level of poverty, increase in the number of dependent people and high rate of crimes in Nigeria,” the report said.

The Nigerian economy continued to expand at a sluggish rate in the third quarter of 2019 as the NBS reported a 2.28 percent growth for the period.

Although the fastest growth in four quarters, the GDP rate remained lower than the country’s population growth rate of 2.6 percent, a trend that has been constant since 2015.

Ben Akabueze, director-general, Budget Office of the Federation, said for Nigerians to effectively feel the impact of economic growth, the rate of GDP growth must be higher than the population growth.

While many respondents said the country has not performed well in four key areas of the economy, 68 percent, however, applauded the country in the area of agriculture, and 58 percent reported that the country has fared well in the education sector.

“Agriculture, education and security are areas where the government has fared well. Synergy between government and concerned stakeholders will go a long way in ensuring that these critical challenges are addressed in 2020,” NOIPolls said based on the result of the poll.

According to the Abuja-based organisation, fixing the above-named sectors cited by Nigerians will attract more foreign direct investments, create millions of jobs, help to create new markets, foster competition, spur innovation, lower prices, raise productivity and in turn lead to increase in living standards.

ENDURANCE OKAFOR