By Angela Onwuzoo
The Federal Government disbursed N249.6bn to the Basic Health Care Provision Fund between 2023 and 2026, accounting for 77.1 per cent of the N323.6bn disbursed under the scheme since its first release in 2019, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, has said.
Salako disclosed this in Abuja during a ministerial briefing on three years of BHCPF implementation and reforms under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
He said the Ministerial Oversight Committee had approved an additional N40.7bn for disbursement, which would raise total disbursements under the Tinubu administration to N290.2bn, representing 79.7 per cent of the cumulative amount.
Established under the National Health Act 2014, the BHCPF is designed to expand access to basic healthcare, particularly for poor and vulnerable Nigerians.
The fund operates through four gateways: the National Health Insurance Authority, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the emergency medical treatment gateway and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
Salako said total releases to the fund reached N422.3bn between 2019 and September 2026, while N323.6bn had been disbursed.
At its 16th meeting on October 14, 2026, the committee approved N40.758bn for the third-quarter allocation, up from N32.88bn in the preceding quarter.
Of the approved amount, N19.87bn was allocated to the NHIA gateway, N18.3bn to the NPHCDA, N2.04bn to emergency medical treatment and N409.48m to the NCDC gateway.
“Under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, we have strengthened this statutory instrument as part of a wider reform of the health sector rather than treat it as a standalone funding arrangement,” Salako said.
He said the government had introduced reforms to improve transparency, accountability and service delivery, including performance-linked disbursements, direct financing of health facilities and unique beneficiary identifiers linked to the National Identification Number.
The minister added that budgetary support for basic healthcare had increased from N51.6bn in 2023 to N132bn between January and September 2026. The fund is projected to receive N245.1bn by the end of the year if the full appropriation is implemented.
He also disclosed that the Federal Government was working with the National Assembly to increase the statutory allocation to the fund from one per cent to two per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
According to him, the proposed increase would expand funding for primary healthcare, research and health promotion.
Salako said national health insurance enrolment had risen from approximately 16.2 million people in 2023 to 23.06 million in the third quarter of 2026.
He added that 3,182,943 vulnerable Nigerians with National Identification Numbers had been identified as beneficiaries of coverage supported by the fund.
The scheme had also supported free emergency caesarean sections, obstetric fistula surgeries and rehabilitation, benefiting 96,068 women and babies, he said.
The fund was further supporting health insurance coverage for key populations, including people living with HIV and tuberculosis, while plans had been approved to extend coverage to about 90,000 inmates in correctional facilities.
Salako said the interventions were intended to reduce out-of-pocket healthcare spending and prevent families from falling into poverty because of medical expenses.
On primary healthcare, he said direct financing through the NPHCDA currently covered 8,309 primary healthcare centres across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
An expansion plan is expected to bring another 5,212 facilities into the programme, increasing coverage to 13,512 centres.
The number of facilities meeting Level Two readiness requirements also rose from 1,748 in 2024 to 3,202 in the third quarter of 2026, he said.
According to the minister, general attendance at primary healthcare facilities increased from a baseline of 34.55 million in 2023 to 43.06 million by the second quarter of 2026.
He also reported a 20 per cent improvement in the number of eligible children below one year receiving the third dose of the pentavalent vaccine, while deliveries attended by skilled birth attendants increased by 63.6 per cent.
Salako said predictable funding would help health facilities cover basic operating costs, obtain essential supplies and provide more reliable maternal, newborn and child healthcare.
He further announced that the committee had approved a phased funding arrangement for the salaries of 13,800 community-based health workers and skilled birth attendants.
Under the arrangement, the Federal Government, through the NPHCDA, would cover 100 per cent of eligible salary costs in the first year, 67 per cent in the second year and 33 per cent in the third year.
He said the arrangement would give state governments time to progressively absorb the workers into their payrolls and establish sustainable employment structures.
Salako added that 78,054 frontline health workers had been trained as of June 2026 under the national programme targeting 120,000 workers.
He said the government was also implementing policies to strengthen recruitment, improve working conditions and address challenges associated with health workforce migration.
The minister urged state governments to meet their counterpart funding obligations and take greater responsibility for sustaining healthcare services in their jurisdictions.
He cited Katsina State’s release of N240.79m to its health insurance agency as an example of state-level efforts to expand coverage.
“The Federal Government cannot achieve a functioning primary healthcare system on behalf of states without their sustained participation,” he said.
On emergency healthcare, Salako said emergency medical services management structures had been established in all 36 states and the FCT.
The rural emergency transport scheme had also been established in 171 of 172 targeted local government areas, with plans to expand coverage to 200 LGAs by December 2026.
Since 2023, the programme had recorded 168,571 emergency ambulance service episodes involving obstetric emergencies, neonatal and under-five emergencies, road traffic injuries, snakebites, burns and other urgent medical conditions.
He said the initiative was intended to improve emergency evacuation and referrals, particularly in communities where access to timely medical attention remained difficult.
The fund also supported outbreak preparedness and response through the NCDC gateway, helping states strengthen surveillance and respond to diseases including Lassa fever, cholera, diphtheria and mpox.
Salako clarified that the outbreak figures represented disease events addressed by the response system during the reporting period, rather than cases caused by the fund.
On accountability, he said the government would strengthen financial verification under the revised BHCPF guidelines, including collaboration with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to track the use of public funds.
He said the government would insist on timely reporting, proper retirement of advances and transparent payment mechanisms to ensure that funds reached their intended beneficiaries.
“The test is not whether a release appears in a ledger, but whether the intended facility received the funds and the patient obtained the service,” he said.
Salako also disclosed that the committee had approved the operationalisation of Medipol as a pooled procurement mechanism for essential medicines and health commodities under the fund, subject to price benchmarks, quality standards and value-for-money safeguards.
He said the arrangement would improve the availability of medicines and medical supplies at healthcare facilities while supporting local production under the Federal Government’s health value-chain initiative.
He said the reforms were ultimately aimed at ensuring that no family was pushed into poverty because a child needed treatment and no pregnant woman was denied skilled care because her community lacked a functioning health facility.
Copyright PUNCH
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: health_wise@punchng.
