Health experts have warned that declining donor funding is exposing serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s disease detection and surveillance systems and called for urgent local funding reforms.
The experts gave the warning on Wednesday in Abuja during the presentation of A System in Transition: Nigeria Country Report.
According to a statement issued on Thursday by the media unit of Resolve to Save Lives, the report is an assessment of the country’s public health surveillance, laboratory, and specimen transport systems.
The report stated that Nigeria’s surveillance, laboratory, and specimen transport systems are facing increasing pressure as funding disruptions expose long-standing structural challenges.
It noted that the country’s heavy dependence on donor funding has led to fragmented systems that are becoming difficult to sustain.
The report identified current reforms and funding opportunities as a critical window for Nigeria to reposition its health system toward sustainability and national ownership.
“Decisions made now will determine whether Nigeria’s systems continue to fragment or are deliberately consolidated for the future,” it warned.
The report further revealed that funding disruptions are already affecting surveillance coverage, laboratory turnaround times, workforce stability, and overall system readiness nationwide.
Delivering a keynote address, the Executive Director of Resolve to Save Lives Nigeria, Nanlop Ogbureke, described the report as a crucial reflection of the country’s health security framework.
“This report is not simply a diagnostic exercise. It is a mirror held up to Nigeria’s health security system at a defining moment,” Ogbureke said.
“Systems that rely heavily on parallel funding streams and disease-specific architectures are inherently fragile. When funding shifts, the cracks widen,” she added.
Also speaking, the Kaduna State Epidemiologist, Dr. Jeremiah Daiko, stressed the need for increased domestic investment, particularly at the state level, where outbreaks are first detected and managed.
“Strengthening our health system in Nigeria has become a priority. For us to survive and strengthen it, we really need funding.
“This programme is coming at a good time, when donor funding has decreased significantly. So we need to look inward to see how our state and government can support surveillance, laboratory services, outbreak response, and other critical areas,” he said.
Daiko described the initiative as timely, especially for states already struggling with reduced external support.
“It is a very good programme for us at the subnational level,” he added.
