In order to maintain existing initiatives in primary healthcare, emergency medical services, health insurance, and disease preparation, the Federal Government has authorized the distribution of N32.8 billion to states through the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate, announced the approval while briefing journalists after the quarterly meeting of the Expanded Ministerial Oversight Committee, which was convened to review progress, address implementation challenges, and outline the next phase of the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative.
Federal government health agencies, state commissioners for health, state primary health care development agencies, development partners, civil society organizations, and other pertinent ministries and stakeholders make up the Expanded Ministerial Oversight Committee.
The minister stated that the committee approved the fund to support ongoing health sector changes under the Sector-Wide Approach in a statement signed by Ado Bako, Assistant Director of Information and Public Relations.
Pate stated that since President Bola Tinubu introduced the NHSRII in December 2023, the FG had made considerable strides toward its implementation.
He revealed that N235 billion had been released in the last three years, despite N339 billion having been disbursed through the BHCPF over the previous 12 years. He described this as evidence of the administration’s dedication to bolstering primary healthcare.
PUNCH Healthwise states that the BHCPF was founded under Section 11 of the National Health Act 2014 to develop health systems at the grassroots level and protect vulnerable populations.
The fund is sponsored from at least 1% of the Federal Government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund and supports primary healthcare services, health insurance for vulnerable groups, disease surveillance, and emergency medical treatment.
A number of BHCPF disbursements, including N101 billion given to over 7,600 primary healthcare facilities in 2022, N25.8 billion authorized for PHC renovations in 2024, and N32.9 billion authorized in 2025 to improve basic healthcare services, were previously reported by PUNCH Healthwise.
In an earlier report, Pate advised communities to monitor the fund usage and directed the ICPC to track the utilisation and implement tighter accountability mechanisms.
The minister went on to say that more than 8,000 primary healthcare facilities in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory now receive quarterly direct facility financing for vital medical services, medications, health insurance for vulnerable populations, emergency medical services, and disease outbreak preparedness.
“He added that over 130,000 Nigerians had benefited from emergency medical services financed through the BHCPF, noting that 35 states had established emergency medical service structures, while Benue and Imo states currently rely on Federal Government health institutions for service delivery,” the statement noted.
On disease readiness, Pate said the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention had maintained supporting states to increase disease surveillance, laboratory capability, epidemic detection and emergency preparedness for cholera, Lassa fever, viral meningitis and other infectious illnesses.
Additionally, he revealed that in response to outbreaks in the African region, the Federal Government has authorized increased BHCPF resources for all states to improve readiness against Ebola Virus Disease.
Speaking on the revitalization of primary healthcare, the minister stated that approximately 1,000 more facilities were being revitalized and that over 3,000 primary healthcare centers had been elevated to Level Two category.
He continued by saying that an equity-based funding methodology that takes population size and disease load into account is being used to extend the Direct Facility Financing program from more than 8,000 facilities to 17,600 primary healthcare centers.
Pate pointed out that vital medications and medical supplies accounted for nearly 40% of federal government financing under the BHCPF.
In order to boost primary healthcare financing, he urged all state and local governments to fulfill their statutory contributions of 25% and 15%, respectively, and praised states for contributing counterpart funding.
The minister added that preliminary results from the 2026 Mini Demographic and Health Survey indicated advances in children immunization, HIV interventions, skilled birth attendance, prenatal care attendance, contraceptive prevalence, and child healthcare services.
According to him, the results show that continuous reforms are starting to result in quantifiable gains in population health outcomes.
Pate also revealed that the number of Nigerians enrolled in health insurance has risen by more than six million during the previous three years, from over 16 million to over 22 million.
Regarding maternal and child health, he stated that the Federal Government’s maternal health intervention program had provided free complete emergency obstetric care, including Caesarean sections, to over 48,000 women.
He noted that over 2,900 newborns had benefited from neonatal healthcare interventions, and over 4,700 women had received free Vesico Vaginal Fistula repair procedures at 207 medical facilities.
In order to improve financial protection for vulnerable people, the National Health Insurance Authority and the Global Fund together executed a pilot program that registered over 40,000 Nigerians in health insurance, according to the minister.
Pate noted ongoing difficulties despite the stated improvements, especially the movement of medical staff from primary care institutions to higher-level hospitals, particularly in the South-East, South-South, and South-West.
He emphasized that primary healthcare is the cornerstone of Nigeria’s health system and is essentially the responsibility of state and local governments, and he urged state governments to prioritize proper staffing of primary healthcare centers.
In order to move closer to universal health coverage and better health outcomes, Pate reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to collaborating with state governments, development partners, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders.
