Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Kingsley Moghalu, has urged African countries against lavishing public resources on corrupt politicians, advising them to spend such funds on healthcare instead of relying on foreign aid.

Mr Moghalu, who gave the advice via his X handle, decried the reliance of most African countries on foreign aids, noting that it was less compared to the resources “corruptly appropriated” or expended on politicians’ comfort.

“African countries must make funding for healthcare from their own resources a priority. Reliance on foreign aid for healthcare interventions is not wisdom,” the former presidential candidate wrote.

Mr Moghalu’s comment followed Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the U.S. from the World Health Organisation.

Mr Trump’s decision, according to Mr Moghalu, represents a wake-up call for African countries to expend their resources judiciously and take full responsibility for their healthcare systems.

He said, “Many simply have the wrong priorities. What many African countries receive in aid is nothing compared to the resources that are wasted on the comfort of politicians or corruptly misappropriated. There are, of course, countries that are exceptions to this.’’

Mr Trump, upon inauguration, signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the international organisation. The order was his second attempt to pull the U.S. out of the agency after his first attempt was reversed by former President Joe Biden.

The U.S. president criticized WHO over what he described as its failure to adopt needed reforms, complaining that the U.S. financial contribution to the international organisation was “onerous” compared to China.

Experts have said US withdrawal from the international organisation might isolate the United States health system, including agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.