Nigeria's 2023 presidential election and the future of healthcare in the country

On February 25, 2023, Nigerians took a step forward as a democratic state by voting for a new president. The election is history as the ruling party's candidate, Bola Tinubu, was declared the winner. He polled 37% of the vote, his main rival Abubakar Atiku garnered 29%, and Labour's Peter Obi 25%. Only 27% of registered voters came out to vote. International election observers noted that the election lacked transparency and was marred by logistical challenges and multiple incidents of political violence. The currency and fuel shortages in the country burdened many voters and election officials and therefore marginalised many groups, especially women, who continue to face barriers to political office. The outcome of the election is in contention and inconclusive. The aggrieved parties have taken their case to court, so the nation awaits the outcome of the court decision. In this Editorial, AJRH analyses the prospects and implications of Tinubu's presidency for healthcare in Nigeria.

Health expenditure and economic growth - a review of the literature and an analysis between the economic community for central African states (CEMAC) and selected African countries

African leaders accepted in the year 2001 through the Abuja Declaration to allocate 15% of their government expenditure on health but by 2013 only five (5) African countries achieved this target. In this paper, a comparative analysis on the impact of health expenditure between countries in the CEMAC sub-region and five other African countries that achieved the Abuja declaration is provided. Data for this study was extracted from the World Development Indicators (2016) database, panel ordinary least square (OLS), fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) were used as econometric technic of analysis. Results showed that health expenditure has a positive and significant effect on economic growth in both samples. A unit change in health expenditure can potentially increase GDP per capita by 0.38 and 0.3 units for the five other African countries that achieve the Abuja target and for CEMAC countries respectively, a significant difference of 0.08 units among the two samples. In addition, a long-run relationship also exist between health expenditure and economic growth for both groups of countries. Thus African Economies are strongly advised to achieve the Abuja target especially when other socio-economic and political factors are efficient.