By Atoyebi Nike
The Chief Executive Officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mark Suzman, has cautioned that Nigeria’s efforts to tackle poverty and malaria will require sustained commitment over many years, despite recent progress in public health.
Speaking in New York on Tuesday ahead of the Foundation’s annual Goalkeepers event, Suzman said Nigeria’s scale makes its performance critical for both Africa and global development targets.
“Nigeria’s size means it always, by numbers, makes a material difference to both global and certainly Africa-wide statistics,” he noted.
Suzman pointed out that Nigeria has the highest number of people living in extreme poverty worldwide, alongside high malaria prevalence and millions of unvaccinated children. However, he commended the current administration under President Bola Tinubu for prioritising healthcare reforms.
He highlighted Health Minister Ali Pate’s role in driving vaccination and malaria programmes, describing him as “a longstanding partner” of the Foundation.
While acknowledging Nigeria’s fiscal reforms and efforts to raise non-oil revenues, Suzman stressed that poverty reduction and disease control will require patience. “The size of the disease burden and the poverty burden means this is going to be a multiyear effort,” he said.
He added that investments in child health, nutrition, and education would yield long-term economic benefits. “The real returns will come when those children reach adulthood. Unfortunately, political cycles don’t always align with 20-year payoffs,” Suzman remarked.
The Gates Foundation, he said, continues to work with countries across Africa and Asia to strengthen domestic resource mobilisation for health and education, which he described as the backbone of human capital development.
