From frying pan to fire
Nigeria is dealing with different outbreaks, and its health budget isn’t helping
Good morning, Big Brains. I asked for 10 deep sighs yesterday. You’ll need at least 15 deep sighs and a nose mask to get through today’s edition.
- Margaret
Word count: ~ 1, 000
Reading time ~ 5 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition
Nigeria is dealing with different outbreaks, and its health budget isn’t helping
Senate wants CBN to suspend ATM charges
The Big Deal
Nigeria is dealing with different outbreaks, and its health budget isn’t helping
It’s the worst year for Nigeria to be a broke babe with bad leaders. Yesterday, we broke down why you might start seeing more babies flying around, especially in the North, but today, we have worse problems than accidentally-conceived homo sapiens – a meningitis outbreak in Kebbi State and a diphtheria outbreak in Lagos.
Kebbi state’s Commissioner for Health, Yanusa Ismail says the disease has already claimed 26 lives across Gwandu, Aleiro, and Jega local government areas of the state. A total of 248 suspected cases have been recorded, and lab tests are ongoing to confirm the outbreak's severity. The Kebbi state government has also approved ₦30 million for essential drugs and set up isolation centres across the state.
For those who skipped biology, meningitis is a dangerous infection that messes with the brain and spinal cord. It spreads quickly through respiratory droplets or throat emission, so if you’re in Kebbi, now is the time to restart the social distancing skills you learnt in 2020. Symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, nausea, neck stiffness, and confusion, so you should see a doctor if your body starts acting unusually.
The government is waiting for test results from Abuja before requesting vaccines, but in the meantime, health officials are begging residents to maintain hygiene and avoid crowded places.
While Kebbi is battling meningitis, Lagos is also dealing with diphtheria. In King’s College, Lagos, a 12-year-old student (the first confirmed case) has sadly passed away. 18 other students show symptoms of the disease, too, but health officials have confirmed that those students are already receiving treatment, and their close contacts are being monitored. Thankfully, Lagos State seems more prepared, with 500,000 vaccine doses available to manage the outbreak.
Why is this a big deal?
If you’re tired of hearing about the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and how it literally came to Nigeria’s aid and made it look like we had good leaders, say T-pain.
Now breathe in, breathe out and say T-pain again because we’re about to bore you with the same old tale, hopefully for the last time this week.
Nigeria has maintained a nonchalant attitude towards health allocations over the years, and in big 2025, it’s still not any better. Only 5.18% of this year’s national budget is allocated to healthcare and that sounds like a dry joke when you consider the fact that USAID’s funding cut has left major health gaps that the government needs money to fix asap. When you add two outbreaks to that mix, you get chaos.
If you think this is just a Kebbi and Lagos problem, think again. Meningitis and diphtheria are highly contagious, and these infections don’t take much time to spread. Kebbi is still “waiting for test results” before requesting vaccines and trying to contain an outbreak with a ₦30 million budget, while Lagos is trying to keep things under control in one of its biggest schools. So, there’s really no indication that things are completely under control in both states.
Not only are we stuck with a broke health sector and two fast-spreading diseases, we are also stuck with a government with zero proactiveness to the health of its citizens. Nigerians are going from frying pan to fire alright, but it’s unfortunately the average Nigerian who will feel it the most.
Senate wants CBN to suspend ATM charges
When Nigerian lawmakers are not voting for the suspension of a victim of sexual harassment (allegedly, of course), they benevolently do the work they are actually paid to do.
Their latest act of service to you is telling the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to pause its plans to squeeze more money out of your already dry pocket through increased ATM charges.
On February 10, 2025, the CBN announced that three free monthly withdrawals (usually a maximum of three) from other banks' ATMs would be scrapped.
As it stands, withdrawing from an ATM that isn’t yours will come with a ₦100 charge for every ₦20,000. If the ATM is in a shopping mall, restaurant, or anywhere outside a bank’s premises, the charges go up to ₦500 in addition to the ₦100 fee. The CBN claims it’s simply adjusting for “rising costs” and improving ATM services, but Nigerians aren’t buying it.
To help you escape another unnecessary bill, Senator Marcus Onobun moved a motion calling for a suspension of the policy, arguing that it would burden Nigerians already struggling with increased costs of living. The House agreed, directing the CBN to hold off on the charges until it properly engages with banking and finance committees.
But don’t be surprised if CBN flips the middle finger at the Senate and keeps things moving because we’ve seen that happen already in 2025. Not too long ago, after the 50% telecom tariff hike was implemented, the Senate tried to play hero by asking the federal government to suspend the hike. You’re already know what happened after so keep your hopes high for this one at your own risk.
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This Week’s Big Question
”Are you still team “stay in Nigeria” or team japa?”
Keizzmann’s response - “I just need to find someone planning to japa, so I can give them one heartfelt “Stay, Nigeria has so much to offer” speech; then kindly collect their visa and japa funds for “safe-keeping”. But till then, I’m Team Naija.”
You can also share your response here, and if it’s as interesting as Keizzmann’s, we’ll feature it in the next edition.
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Play catch up
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Dr Saleh Abba, a family physician in Borno State, has confirmed what many experts feared—USAID’s funding cut has made access to contraceptives a luxury instead of a basic health service.