…Disburses N323.6b to health facilities to boost access to primary healthcare, strengthen domestic health financing

A total of N422.3b has been released from the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) since 2019 when the first disbursement was made till September, 2026 out of which N323.6 has been disbursed to health facilities as part of efforts to expand access to primary healthcare and strengthen domestic health financing in the country.

Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Adekunle Salako, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja while presenting a three-year review of the fund’s implementation and the government’s broader efforts to improve healthcare financing on Wednesday in Abuja, stated that of the N323.6 disbursed, about N290.2 billion, representing nearly 80 per cent of the fund’s total disbursements since inception of BHCPF, was done under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.

He noted that the present administration has continued to prioritize the BHCPF, as reflected in the increase in the budgetary allocation to the fund and the consistent increase in releases from ₦51.6 billion in 2023, and ₦132.2 billion between January and September 2026.

Salako said total BHCPF disbursements, which stood at ₦323.6 billion as of September 2026, would rise to ₦364.3 billion following the approval of an additional ₦40.76 billion for the third quarter of the year.

The minister also disclosed that the government is working with the National Assembly to increase the fund’s statutory allocation from one per cent to two per cent, a move expected to expand financing for essential healthcare services and potentially widen the fund’s scope to include research and health promotion.

Established under the National Health Act, 2014, the BHCPF is designed to improve access to basic healthcare, particularly for poor and vulnerable Nigerians, through health insurance, direct financing of primary healthcare facilities, emergency medical services and disease surveillance.

Salako observed that the fund had become a central component of the Federal Government’s health sector reforms, which seek to align financing, service delivery and accountability across federal, state and local government institutions.

 

Providing details of the latest allocation, the minister noted that the Ministerial Oversight Committee approved ₦40.758 billion at its meeting on October 14, 2026, compared with approximately ₦32.88 billion in the preceding quarter.

Under the approved distribution, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) gateway will receive ₦19.87 billion, while the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) will receive ₦18.34 billion.

The Emergency Medical Treatment gateway was allocated ₦2.04 billion, while the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) will receive approximately ₦509.48 million.

The allocations represent 48.75 per cent, 45 per cent, five per cent and 1.25 per cent of the fund, respectively.

According to Salako, statutory releases to the fund increased from ₦51.6 billion in 2023 to ₦132.2 billion between January and September 2026.

The minister said the fund is projected to receive ₦245.1 billion by the end of 2026 if the year’s appropriation was fully implemented.

Salako also noted that the Federal Government’s 2025 health budget increased by nearly 60 per cent, raising the sector’s share of the national budget to 5.2 per cent from slightly above three per cent.

For 2026, President Tinubu proposed ₦2.48 trillion for health investment, equivalent to six per cent of the budget excluding liabilities, Salako said.

The minister pointed out that the BHCPF was supporting service delivery at 8,309 primary healthcare centres across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

Salako observed that the expansion plan envisaged bringing an additional 5,212 facilities into the programme, increasing the total to 13,521, while the government was working towards extending direct financing to at least 17,600 facilities.

He added that the number of primary healthcare centres meeting the programme’s Level 2 readiness standard rose from 1,748 in 2024 to 3,202 in the third quarter of 2026.

The fund has also supported increased utilisation of primary healthcare services, with general attendance rising from a baseline of 34.55 million in 2023 to 43.06 million by the second quarter of 2026, according to figures presented by the minister.

The minister also highlighted reported a 63.6 per cent increase in deliveries attended by skilled birth attendants and an improvement of about 20 per cent in the number of eligible children under one year who received the third dose of the pentavalent vaccine.

 

On health insurance, Salako said national enrolment increased from approximately 16.2 million people in 2023 to 23.06 million by the third quarter of 2026.

He clarified that 3,182,943 vulnerable Nigerians with National Identification Numbers had been identified as beneficiaries of BHCPF-supported coverage, distinguishing them from the broader national insurance enrolment figure.

The minister said the fund had also supported free vesicovaginal fistula surgeries and rehabilitation, emergency caesarean sections and other comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care interventions for 96,068 women and babies.

Other beneficiaries include people living with HIV, tuberculosis patients and other vulnerable groups.

Salako added that the committee had approved plans to extend health insurance coverage to approximately 90,000 Nigerians in correctional facilities.

He said the government would continue to strengthen beneficiary verification and assess whether people enrolled under the programme were receiving covered services without facing unaffordable charges.

 

The minister also reported progress in emergency medical services, with emergency medical management structures established across the 36 states and the FCT.

Through the programme’s rural emergency transport arrangements, services had been established in 171 of 172 local government areas covered by the Maternal and Newborn Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative, with expansion to 200 local government areas planned by December 2026.

Salako said the programme recorded 168,571 emergency ambulance service episodes since 2023, covering obstetric emergencies, neonatal and under-five emergencies, road traffic injuries, snakebites, burns and other urgent conditions.

 

Through the NCDC gateway, the fund also contributes to public health preparedness and outbreak response.

The ministry’s performance records associated BHCPF-supported response activities with reported outbreaks involving 8,379 Lassa fever cases, 70,947 cholera cases, 22,085 diphtheria cases and 760 mpox cases over the reporting period.

The figures represent disease cases recorded during outbreaks addressed by the response system and do not mean that BHCPF financed the treatment of every affected person, the statement clarified.

In a further measure to strengthen primary healthcare delivery, the minister said the oversight committee had approved a phased salary-support arrangement for 13,800 community-based health workers and skilled birth attendants.

Under the proposed arrangement, the Federal Government, through the NPHCDA, will 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 before states assume full responsibility.

The arrangement is intended to prevent disruptions in service delivery by ensuring that healthcare workers recruited under the programme are progressively absorbed into state employment.

Salako said the government was also pursuing reforms to improve the supply of essential medicines and medical commodities through MEDIPOOL, a pooled procurement mechanism approved by the oversight committee.

He said the initiative would be subject to price benchmarks, quality requirements, value-for-money safeguards and monitoring of supply-chain performance.

 

The minister urged state governments to meet their counterpart funding obligations, strengthen oversight of facilities and progressively assume responsibility for essential personnel.

He cited Katsina State’s recent release of ₦240.79 million to its state health insurance agency as an example of the state-level contribution required to expand coverage.

The Federal Government, he said, was strengthening financial monitoring under the BHCPF 2.0 guidelines, including collaboration with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to track public expenditure.

The measures include stricter reporting requirements, proper retirement of advances and more transparent payment systems.

Salako maintained that the effectiveness of the fund should be measured not merely by the amount released but by whether the money reached the intended health facilities and translated into services for patients.

Three years into the Tinubu administration’s health financing reforms, he said, the government was seeking to increase funding, expand insurance coverage, improve primary healthcare infrastructure and strengthen emergency response systems.

He added that the next phase would focus on expanding facility coverage, improving accountability, increasing domestic financing and ensuring that public expenditure translated into better healthcare outcomes.

The minister said the ultimate objective was to prevent families from falling deeper into poverty because of medical bills and ensure that pregnant women, children and other vulnerable Nigerians could access essential healthcare regardless of their location or economic circumstances.