A jaw-dropping investigation into Lagos State’s 2025 budget reveals that dozens of critical health agencies and hospitals have been left with zero funding in the first half of the year.
SaharaReporters’ analysis of official budget-performance documents shows that numerous commissions, agencies and over 20 general hospitals had their capital allocations completely frozen by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration.
For example, the Lagos State Pension Commission (LASPEC) was allocated ₦130.42 million in the 2025 budget but saw 0% disbursement in January–June 2025.
The Local Government Service Commission (₦515.56m) and Lagos Consumer Protection Agency (₦570.375m) likewise received no funding.
Even vital health services were hit: the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service (₦50.12m), Health Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (₦173.89m) and State Accident & Emergency Centre (₦72.27m) all got no releases in H1 2025.
Lagos’s disaster-response units weren’t spared either – neither LASEMA (₦243.75m) nor the Emergency Command & Control Centre (₦92.625m) received a naira.
And gargantuan sums earmarked for sanitation – the Wastewater Management Office (₦975.74m) and the Public Procurement Agency (LASPPA, ₦440.24m) – were likewise 0% funded.
Lagos State Pension Commission (LASPEC): Allocated ₦130,419,375 – 0% funded.
Local Govt Service Commission: ₦515,559,655 – 0% funded. Lagos Consumer Protection Agency: ₦570,375,000 – 0% funded.
Blood Transfusion Service: ₦50,119,503 – 0% funded. Health Monitoring & Accreditation: ₦173,891,981.66 – 0% funded. Accident & Emergency Centre (Medical Consumables): ₦72,274,841 – 0% funded.
LASEMA: ₦243,750,000 – 0% funded. Emergency Command & Control Centre: ₦92,625,000 – 0% funded.
Wastewater Management Office: ₦975,741,966.61 – 0% funded. Lagos State Public Procurement Agency (LASPPA): ₦440,237,500 – 0% funded.
These figures come straight from Lagos’s own budget documents and have triggered a political firestorm.
Workers and experts are outraged. Front-line health staff have protested “massive, unexplained deductions” from their salaries, with some employees losing ₦200,000 to ₦600,000 per pay packet.
In April, healthcare workers accused Governor Sanwo-Olu’s government of “betrayal” and “financial oppression,” pointing out that the sector’s earnings fuel the Lagos economy.
Now that even the funds budgeted for their hospitals are being withheld, staff fears of under-resourced clinics are mounting.
Hospitals and Clinics Kept in the Dark
Perhaps even more shocking is that every major public hospital and health centre on the funding list was struck by this freeze.
The budget report shows twenty-plus facilities – from sprawling urban general hospitals to local health posts – received zero of the capital funding they were promised.
For example, General Hospital, Lagos was budgeted ₦741m (capital works) yet saw 0% releases in Jan–June 2025.
Likewise Gbagada General Hospital (₦810m)and Orile Agege General Hospital (₦648m) got nothing.
A slew of others – Isolo (₦741m), Ikorodu (₦1.026bn), Badagry (₦270m), Lagos Island Maternity (₦540m) and more – all remained unfunded.
Even dozens of smaller centres were hit: Massey Street Children’s Hospital (₦171m), Mainland Hospital Yaba (₦194.4m), Onikan Health Centre (₦270m), Ebute-Metta (₦162m) and many others all show 0.0% execution.
The report lists Eti-Osa Maternal & Child (₦313.5m), Imota General (₦216m), and Orchid Road GH (₦270m)– all for capital works – and each has no spending so far.
“Every facility that got a budget line for facilities, equipment or infrastructure in 2025 has seen no money released in the first half,” notes one analyst.
The pattern is clear: critical healthcare infrastructure is being denied its budgeted investment.
Workers Outraged as Promised Pay and Projects Vanish
The sudden budget blackout comes as state government workers reel from sharp salary cuts. Lagos doctors and nurses have loudly protested pay “garnisments” in recent months, accusing the government of cheating them out of earned income.
They warned in April that “betrayal” and “financial oppression” by the Sanwo-Olu regime were tipping healthcare workers into poverty.
Now many frontline staff see a double betrayal: not only are their wages slashed, but the facilities they operate in are starved of resources.
“Why allocate hundreds of millions for hospitals and then never pay it?” asked one Abuja-based policy expert.
While Lagos’s 2025 appropriation reportedly earmarks about ₦204bn for healthcare out of a ₦3–3.4 trillion budget, the freeze suggests much of that money is still sitting in treasury accounts instead of being spent on clinics.
It also means long-delayed equipment upgrades, construction projects and supply purchases at public hospitals have ground to a halt.
Comparative Context: A Break from Past Practice
This funding freeze is unprecedented in Lagos’s recent budget history. In 2024 and 2023, these same hospitals and agencies received meaningful partial payments on their capital budgets.
Official data show that by mid-2024 Lagos had already disbursed a sizeable share of last year’s budgets.
For instance, in Q2 2024 Lagos State General Hospital (Lagos) had spent about 22.5% of its ₦2.105 billion capital budget – roughly ₦473 million. Gbagada General Hospital had seen over 42% (≈₦767m) of its ₦1.8bn allocation used by mid-year.
Even by Q3 2024 Lagos State’s reports show hundreds of millions released: 745m of GH Lagos’s ₦2.105bn had been spent by September 2024 (≈35.4%).
In stark contrast, the first half of 2025 shows zero execution across the board. The official Q1 2025 report lists those hospitals with their smaller budgets (e.g. GH Lagos ₦741m, Gbagada ₦810m) and “0.0%” under expenditure.
In other words, facilities that were already underfunded by their original budgets saw none of their allocated 2025 capital released at all.
The same is true for other agencies: LASPEC had no releases in Q1 2025 (maintaining its full ₦402.5m balance), whereas in 2024 it was at least listed as receiving some allocations in quarters.
These shifts are impossible to ignore. Lagos’s 2024–25 budget documents (publicly available) make clear that nothing has been spent on these projects yet – a sharp break with earlier years’ partial payments.
Official Spin vs. Hard Data
Lagos officials are aware of the blowback. In public statements, the Sanwo-Olu administration insists that it prioritises healthcare.
A government spokesman recently claimed that “year on year, our budgetary allocations for health keep increasing” and touted several new hospitals and clinics built or underway in Lagos – from Mother & Child centres in Badagry and Alimosho to a new Massey Children’s Hospital (now 80% complete).
The state even tripled its “vulnerable fund” for a proposed health insurance scheme in 2025.
But analysts say the bragging rings hollow in light of these reports. If health allocations keep rising, as claimed, then a freeze of the actual payments is inexplicable.
One opposition leader notes that money only matters if it reaches the front lines. “It’s one thing to announce big budgets; it’s another to spend them,” he commented.
Indeed, Lagos’s own figures show the health budget as a shrinking share of total government spending: just a few years ago health took over 8.4% of the state budget, but in 2024 this fell to 6.75%, and currently hovers around 6.8%.
The worry now is that even the modest 2025 funds aren’t trickling down at all.
Unanswered Questions and Consequences
As of this report, no clear explanation has been offered for the funding freeze. Neither the Governor’s office nor the State Assembly has publicly addressed why capital releases would halt just as Lagos faces public health challenges.
The timing is especially controversial: Lagos is Nigeria’s economic engine, but even it has not met the World Health Organization’s 13% health-spending target (Lagos budgets only ~6–7% for health).
At a time of rising living costs and growing urban demand, local clinics desperately need maintenance and new equipment.
Investors and citizens alike are now demanding accountability. “We passed these budgets in good faith,” said one civic activist, “and the money must be spent on the people’s needs.”
If Lagos’s touted “Budget of Sustainability” means anything, skeptics argue, the state cannot withhold billions destined for pensions, water and health without risking a governance crisis.
As outrage mounts, all eyes will be on Governor Sanwo-Olu to release the withheld funds or explain why approved projects cannot go ahead.
Follow us on our broadcast channels today!
- WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VawZ8TbDDmFT1a1Syg46
- Telegram: https://t.me/atlanticpostchannel
- Facebook: https://www.messenger.com/channel/atlanticpostng
