The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, has revealed that the Nigeria Government, through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), has disbursed over N20 billion to support 4,362 primary healthcare centres (PHCs) across the 19 Northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, over the past two years.
Prof. Pate made this known while speaking during a panel session at the ongoing interactive forum on Government–Citizens Engagement, organised by the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation in Kaduna.
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The Minister also noted that 274 projects have been implemented across 35 tertiary hospitals in Northern Nigeria, which have so far catered to over 4.5 million outpatients and 1.6 million inpatients.
The Minister stressed that the commitment of the President Bola Tinubu led administration to improving national health outcomes is being matched with action, with the provision of health infrastructure across all levels of healthcare delivery nationwide.
On her part, Nigeria’s Minister of State Education, Dr. Suwaiba Sa’id Ahmad, announced that the guidelines for accessing intervention funds from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) are currently being reviewed to make them more flexible for state governments.
Dr. Ahmad further stated that, going forward, the disbursement of funds to state governments would be tied to performance metrics to ensure quality control and value for money.