The Federal Government has stepped up funding for primary healthcare, disbursing a total of ₦339 billion through the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund, including ₦235 billion, roughly 70 percent of the total, in the last three years. Coordinating Minister Muhammad Pate framed the higher transfers as a renewal of federal commitment to expand access, and he placed new pressure on implementing agencies to demonstrate measurable outcomes from the injections.
Pate, represented at a World Health Forum event by Uzoma Nwankwo, described the BHCPF as a core federal financing tool created under the National Health Act 2014 to support primary care and essential health interventions. He outlined how the fund is channelled through four gateways: the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the National Health Insurance Authority, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, and the emergency medical treatment gateway, each with defined responsibilities for facility readiness, insurance financing, disease surveillance, and emergency care.
The ministry reports direct facility financing has reached 3,109 primary healthcare centres, with revised quarterly payments ranging from ₦600,000 to ₦800,000 depending on facility categorisation by the NPHCDA. Training and workforce upgrades are part of the push, with about 78,000 frontline health workers reported trained. At the same time the government recorded approximately 3,150 incomplete primary healthcare revitalisation projects as of around June, underscoring persistent infrastructure gaps.
Pate highlighted early signs of impact, saying utilisation of maternal healthcare services has increased in targeted local government areas and that some reductions in maternal mortality are beginning to appear. He added that national health insurance enrolment had surpassed 22 million as of July, while BHCPF funding is providing financial coverage for more than two million poor and vulnerable Nigerians. On emergency transport, the National Emergency Medical Treatment and Ambulance System has logged more than 830,000 transports, and the federal government deployed 13 ambulances to states on September 4.
The minister stressed that increased financing raises expectations for regular staffing, functioning equipment, reliable medicine supplies, timely payments to providers, and mechanisms to resolve complaints. Moving forward, the federal approach centres on aligning federal and state actors and development partners around a single plan and budget, and on holding implementing agencies accountable for delivering verifiable improvements in access and quality.
