In a bid to ensure the public health bill is assented to, stakeholders in the health sector have urged the newly-inaugurated legislators to review pending bills and reactivate processes to pass and sign them into law.
They made the call on Thursday in Abuja, at the strategic health legislative retreat, where the outgoing members of the 9th National Assembly, under the Legislative Network for Universal Health Coverage (UHC), provided orientation for the incoming members of the 10th Assembly.
The former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Sen. Ibrahim Oloriegbe, urged the 10th Assembly to sustain the 2023 budgetary allocation to health, with a determined aim of achieving a remarkable 10 per cent allocation by 2027.
Oloriegbe said that it was pertinent that the 10th Assembly develops its legislative health agenda and other oversight tools to make legislative oversight more strategic.
He said that leveraging legislative statutory functions is a powerful development strategy for addressing sectoral challenges and gaps.
“This has been the mission of the Legislative Network for Universal Health Coverage (LNU) whose membership cuts across all parliaments in Nigeria, both at the national and sub-national levels.
“Guided by an overarching theory of change and its Legislative Health Agenda (LHA), LNU members in the outgoing 9th National Assembly led various legislative interventions that have contributed to many achievements and progress made in Nigeria towards attaining UHC,” he said.
He said to sustain these achievements and maintain steady progress, it is important to engage newly-elected legislators, particularly those with health backgrounds and those who have indicated an interest in being members of health committees in the 10th Assembly.
“The current transition phase between the 9th and 10th National Assembly provides this strategic opportunity,” he said.
Sen. Lanre Tejuoso, the pioneer of the Legislative Network for Universal Health Coverage (LNU) and President of the Legislative Initiative for Sustainable Development (LISDEL), advised the incoming legislators to put a ‘human face’ to their appropriation and implementation.
LISDEL is an indigenous non-profit organisation.
Tejuoso said that the LNU has leveraged these functions and roles in the implementation of various legislative interventions in addressing several issues pertaining to Nigeria’s health system towards achieving UHC and resilience.
He said that these have contributed immensely to the important progress made as well as key achievements recorded in the health sector in recent times.
“They established a legal framework for mandatory health insurance for all Nigerians, targeted at catalyzing and sustaining progress towards UHC in Nigeria.
“Improved domestic funding for health, strategic interventions to ensure an efficient country response to COVID-19 and other public health emergencies and improved legal, policy and institutional frameworks for health,” he said.
He said that these achievements were guided by the LHA, a strategic legislative tool developed at the beginning of the 9th Assembly by the Joint Health Committees and the Legislative Network for UHC, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and its Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
In his remarks, the chairman, of National Advocates for Health (NA4H), Hon. Mohammed Usman, said that the importance of the legislature for a functional, effective socio-economic and politically responsive state was incontestable.
Usman said that as an arm of government, its statutory functions of legislation, oversight, appropriation, and representation were critical towards national development.
He commended the outgoing health committees of the 9th assembly for their achievements that would remain with Nigerians.
“The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), signing into law, Budgetary allocation to health.
“I urge the incoming parliamentarians to continue where the outgoing 9th assembly stopped to ensure the implementation of laws. No need for new laws to take oversight seriously,” he said.
He encouraged the new legislators to work towards the implementation of a cancer fund.
At the event, there were presentations and documentaries of activities and achievements of the various committees as well as status/progress against the 9th Assembly’s LHA.
The new members were able to brainstorm with the 9th Assembly members regarding various bottlenecks and challenges they may likely face, and what they can do differently to navigate such challenges.
Members elect had the opportunities to interact with the members of the executive arm of government on various strides, gaps and the current health policy thrust of the government.
They also interacted with partners on their intervention areas towards laying a solid foundation for partnership and successful collaboration in strengthening Nigeria’s health system when the 10th Assembly commences.
