Billionaire philanthropist and founder of the Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, has pledged a significant investment of $2.8 billion to improve healthcare, nutrition, and agriculture in Nigeria.
Speaking at the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Gates emphasized the urgent need to invest in Nigeria’s greatest resource – its people.
His announcement was made in the presence of Vice President Kashim Shettima and Aliko Dangote, chairman of the Dangote Foundation, with whom Gates has collaborated on several initiatives to support Nigeria.
The investment is part of the Gates Foundation’s continued commitment to Nigeria, which is now the largest of its kind in Africa.
This financial pledge adds to the foundation’s past contributions, demonstrating Gates’ longstanding interest in supporting the country’s development.
During his speech, Gates discussed several key issues plaguing the country, including economic difficulties, healthcare deficiencies, and food insecurity.
His message was clear: Nigeria’s leadership must focus on improving the well-being of its people to drive economic recovery and long-term progress.
Gates drew attention to the challenges in Nigeria’s healthcare system, especially in primary healthcare.
He pointed out that despite Nigeria’s wealth, the country spends only about N3,000 per person annually on primary healthcare services, a figure that he argued should be much higher.
“Without health, there can be no opportunity,” Gates said, stressing that healthy citizens are critical for economic growth.
He urged Nigerian leaders to allocate more funds for healthcare and to ensure that the money reaches where it is needed.
Gates also highlighted the importance of timely disbursement of allocated resources to ensure that healthcare facilities can function effectively.
He praised recent efforts in the health sector, including the successful Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign that reached over 12 million Nigerian girls in just one month.
This, he said, was a great achievement but also emphasized that much more needs to be done, particularly in making data-driven decisions to improve healthcare services and manage the workforce.
Gates also addressed the severe issue of malnutrition in Nigeria, particularly among children.
He noted that child malnutrition is responsible for nearly half of all child deaths in the country, a statistic that underlines the urgency of addressing the nation’s nutritional needs.
“Child malnutrition is one of the most alarming challenges in Nigeria,” Gates said, pointing out the role of malnutrition in child mortality.
Gates called for more involvement from the private sector in food fortification efforts to ensure that foods are enriched with essential vitamins and nutrients.
He also urged state governments to take the issue of nutrition more seriously by enforcing compliance with existing nutritional guidelines.
One of the solutions Gates recommended for improving maternal health was the use of multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS) for pregnant women.
These supplements, he said, could help reduce anaemia and prevent thousands of newborn deaths each year.
This simple and affordable intervention, if scaled up, could save lives and improve the health of mothers and their babies.
Gates also spoke extensively about the state of agriculture in Nigeria, which he said is a major concern due to the increasing levels of food insecurity.
He linked this problem to poor agricultural practices and the growing impact of climate change on food production.
“Food insecurity in Nigeria is getting worse,” Gates said, “and this has been made worse by climate change and weak agricultural practices.”
