Jigawa budget review reveals low spending on water, health sectors in first three months of 2025
By Aminu Abubakar
A SolaceBase review of the Jigawa State budget performance report for the first quarter (Q1) of 2025 has revealed alarmingly low capital expenditure in two of the state’s most critical sectors—water and health.
The review focused specifically on capital expenditures, which represent long-term investments in infrastructure and public services.
These include funding for construction, equipment acquisition, and other development projects designed to improve living conditions for the state’s residents.
Worrying Expenditure Pattern in First Three Months for Water Sector
According to the Q1 budget performance report, the Ministry of Water Resources was allocated a capital expenditure budget of N11.712 billion for the 2025 fiscal year. However, by the end of the first quarter, only N633.6 million—a mere 5.4%—had been spent.
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A closer examination reveals even more troubling figures. The Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, which plays a key role in expanding access to potable water in rural areas, was allocated N3.619 billion. Shockingly, not a single naira was disbursed during the first three months of 2025.
In contrast, the Small Town Water Supply Agency, with a capital budget of N2.439 billion, recorded a slightly better performance, having spent N422 million, or 17%, by the end of Q1.
This underperformance is especially concerning given the state’s ongoing struggles with water accessibility. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 12% of households in Jigawa lack access to clean drinking water, a situation that could deteriorate further without urgent capital investment.
Health Sector: Primary Healthcare Suffers Low Financial Commitments
The capital expenditure budget for the Ministry of Health in Jigawa State for 2025 was set at N42.475 billion, reflecting the state government’s stated commitment to improving healthcare infrastructure. However, only N3.521 billion—just 8.3% of the allocated amount—was spent in the first quarter.
The Primary Healthcare Development Board, which was supposed to be a major beneficiary of the budget with an allocation of N21.278 billion, reported spending only N1.159 billion, equivalent to 5.4% of its yearly capital budget.
The implications of this slow capital spending are far-reaching. Jigawa continues to face significant challenges in public health, particularly in rural and underserved areas. The underfunding of primary healthcare risks reversing gains made in disease prevention, maternal and child health, and immunization coverage.
A Broader Context of Deprivation
These low-budget performances are occurring in the context of stark development indicators for the state. The latest Multidimensional Poverty Index from the NBS highlights that 73% of households in Jigawa lack access to sanitary facilities, placing the state among the worst in the country on sanitation metrics.
Water and sanitation are closely linked to public health outcomes. Inadequate access to clean water and safe sanitation facilities exacerbates the spread of diseases such as cholera, dysentery, and typhoid, which are preventable with adequate infrastructure investment.
Over time, development experts and civil society organizations have called on the State Government to expedite capital releases and ensure the timely implementation of infrastructure projects.
There is a consensus that without significant improvements in both budget performance and transparency, the state risks falling further behind on key development goals, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to health and clean water.
While the figures, if sustained, may mean low investments in the Water and Health sectors by Jigawa State, there are nine months remaining in the fiscal year, which allows the state to recover from this slow start, provided that bottlenecks in procurement, disbursement, or project execution are swiftly addressed.
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