FG Releases N32B to Boost Primary Healthcare
The Federal Government has approved the release of N32 billion to health facilities across Nigeria under the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen primary healthcare delivery nationwide.
The approval was announced by the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Ali Pate, following a Ministerial Oversight Committee meeting convened to review progress under President Bola Tinubu’s health sector renewal investment initiative.
“The resources that the Federal Government is disbursing through the BHCPF are getting to the facilities, and we also approved the disbursement of N32 billion to the facilities,” Pate told journalists.
The minister said reform guidelines approved last year were already being implemented, with plans to expand direct facility financing to an additional 5,000 healthcare centres. “We are on our way to expanding the facilities to add 5,000 more that will be receiving direct facility financing,” he stated.
Pate also disclosed that tariffs for emergency ambulance services had been reviewed upward to encourage stronger participation from both public and private providers.
On maternal health, the minister reported that over 40,000 women had benefited from reimbursed emergency obstetric services since President Tinubu directed that such treatment be made free. “There is widespread acknowledgement that the vision of the president to make treatment of emergency obstetric services free is saving the lives of women,” he said. The free fistula treatment programme has similarly reached more than 4,000 women.
Pate further disclosed that Nigeria recorded over 200 disease outbreak episodes in the past year, most of which were contained early through surveillance systems coordinated by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. He urged state governments to respond faster and ensure better protection for frontline health workers.
The minister also highlighted a nationwide integrated measles and rubella campaign that reached over 102 million children. “It has never happened at this scale to reach 102 million children in Nigeria with preventive services,” he said.
Minister of State for Health, Iziaq Salako, stressed the importance of civil society involvement in tracking fund utilisation at the facility level, describing transparency and accountability as central to the government’s approach.
The BHCPF was established under Section 11 of the National Health Act 2014, with a mandate to deliver a Basic Minimum Package of Health Services to all Nigerians. It draws funding from a minimum of one percent of the federal consolidated revenue, donor grants, and private sector contributions, and is administered through three gateways: the National Health Insurance Scheme, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, and the National Emergency Medical Treatment Committee.