The Cost of Neglect: Ifunanya Nwangene and the Harsh Reality of Nigeria’s Healthcare System
Editor's note: In this piece, Josephine Adokwu, a social change practitioner, examines the preventable death of singer Ifunanya Nwangene. She discusses how Nigeria’s neglected healthcare system, poor budgeting, and misplaced priorities put young lives and the nation’s future at risk.
It is painful, but sadly familiar, to say that Nigeria happened to Ifunanya Nwangene.
The sudden and preventable death of another young, vibrant Nigerian is not just a personal tragedy; it is an indictment of a state that has consistently failed to prioritise the protection of life. Ifunanya’s death exposes, once again, the deep political decay embedded in our systems, where governance exists more on paper than in practice, and where citizens are left to navigate survival on their own.
Source: Instagram
The deadly cost of neglecting health
Following the details surrounding Ifunanya’s passing, it becomes impossible to ignore the truth: our health system is not designed to protect lives. It is an illusion of safety, sustained by poor planning, weak accountability, and irresponsible budgeting. In the 2025 approved national budget of approximately ₦54.2 - ₦56.99 trillion, only about ₦2.48 trillion was allocated to healthcare, roughly 5.1 - 5.2% of total expenditure. While this reflects a marginal increase from the 4.9% and 4.6% allocated in 2024 and 2023, respectively, it still signals a dangerous nonchalance toward healthcare as a national priority. Budgets are not neutral documents; they are moral and political statements. What we fund reveals what we value. And year after year, Nigeria has chosen to deprioritise the health and well-being of its people. The consequences are lethal.
Ifunanya’s life mattered. She was young, brilliant, and positioned for greatness. She represented not just promise, but potential, potential contributions to innovation, productivity, global partnerships, and even international investment. When a country repeatedly loses citizens like Ifunanya to preventable causes, it is not only losing lives, it is bleeding human capital.
How healthcare neglect drains Nigeria’s economy
The economic implications of this failure are profound. Human capital is the backbone of any productive economy. Every avoidable death of a young Nigerian weakens our labour force, reduces productivity, shrinks innovation capacity, and ultimately impacts national GDP. Nations grow when their people are healthy enough to work, create, and compete. Nigeria cannot meaningfully pursue development while treating healthcare as an afterthought.
Source: Twitter
What makes this even more tragic is the triviality of what was missing. An anti-snake venom, something that should exist in the archive of every basic healthcare facility, was unavailable. This is not advanced medicine; it is primary healthcare. Yet Nigeria has perfected a system where even the most basic life-saving interventions are reserved, if available at all, for the elite. The rest are left to fend for themselves, as though citizenship confers no right to survival.
Why health must be Nigeria’s priority now
This reality carries serious political consequences. A state that cannot protect the lives of its people steadily erodes public trust. Young Nigerians are watching, and they are learning, learning that the system will not show up for them, that their lives are expendable, and that governance does not feel personal. This alienation fuels apathy, migration, resentment, and political instability. No political system can sustain legitimacy when citizens consistently experience neglect in moments of life and death.
Ifunanya’s death should force a national reckoning. It calls us to reflect on what truly matters, on the sectors that deserve priority, and on the urgent need to make our systems functional, not just rhetorically, but practically.
This is also a moment to remember a fundamental truth of politics: the masses remain at the centre of every political equation. Responsible budgeting that prioritises health and wellness is not politically damaging; it is politically wise. Governing with empathy does not weaken power; it strengthens legitimacy. Investing in the health of the people does not hurt politics; it humanises it.
We cannot continue to normalise loss. We cannot keep adjusting to tragedy. Lives like Ifunanya’s should not be collateral damage of poor planning and misplaced priorities.
I will end with a conviction I hold deeply:
“No Nigerian is more Nigerian than another. This is the only country/home we’ve got.”
Josephine Adokwu is a Nigerian social change practitioner specialising in youth leadership, gender justice, and advocacy. She trains youth-led groups across West Africa in strategic organising and policy influence.
Source: Legit.ng
