The Federal Government has disbursed ₦249.6 billion to the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) in the last three years under President Bola Tinubu’s administration, representing 77.1 per cent of the total disbursements made under the scheme since its inception in 2019, according to the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako.
Salako disclosed this on Wednesday during a ministerial press briefing in Abuja on the implementation and achievements of the fund between 2023 and 2026.
Salako said the administration had increased funding for basic healthcare delivery, expanded health insurance coverage and strengthened primary healthcare services through the fund.
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He explained that since the first disbursement under the BHCPF in September 2019, a total of ₦432.3 billion had been released, while ₦323.6 billion had been disbursed as of the latest review.
According to him, an additional ₦40.758 billion approved at the October 2026 meeting of the Ministerial Oversight Committee would raise total disbursements to ₦364 billion, with ₦290.2 billion accounted for under the Tinubu administration.
The minister said the figures reflected the Federal Government’s commitment to increasing domestic financing for essential healthcare services and ensuring that public resources translated into improved access to medical care.
“The test is not whether a release appears in the ledger, but whether the intended facility receives the funds and appreciates or delivers the service,” Salako said.
He explained that the BHCPF was established under the National Health Act 2014 to ensure that Nigerians, particularly poor and vulnerable populations, could access essential healthcare services.
“The Basic Health Care Provision Fund was designed to give practical effect to the basic obligation of government that Nigerians, especially those who are poor or vulnerable, have access to essential healthcare,” he said.
Salako said the fund had become a central component of the administration’s broader health sector reform programme, which seeks to improve primary healthcare delivery, expand health insurance coverage and strengthen accountability in the use of public resources.
He recalled that President Tinubu launched the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative in December 2023 and signed the Health Sector Renewal Compact to align the Federal Government, state governments, the Federal Capital Territory and development partners behind a common reform agenda.
According to him, the compact was updated in November 2025 to include local governments, the private sector, civil society organisations, traditional institutions and religious leaders.
The minister said the introduction of the BHCPF Guideline 2.0 was aimed at improving transparency and accountability through performance-linked disbursements, direct financing of healthcare facilities and stricter monitoring mechanisms.
He added that the framework incorporated the use of the National Identification Number to improve beneficiary identification and make healthcare spending more traceable.
“The goal is to expand access to quality healthcare, make every naira that is spent traceable and deliver primary healthcare services equitably, efficiently and transparently,” Salako said.
On the latest funding, he said the Ministerial Oversight Committee approved ₦40.758 billion for the third quarter of 2026, compared with approximately ₦32.88 billion in the preceding quarter.
He said ₦19.87 billion was allocated to the National Health Insurance Authority Gateway, while ₦18.3 billion went to the National Primary Health Care Development Agency Gateway.
The Emergency Medical Treatment Gateway received ₦2.04 billion, while ₦409.48 million was allocated to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention Gateway.
Salako said the allocations were intended to improve financial protection for vulnerable Nigerians, strengthen primary healthcare facilities, support emergency medical services and enhance disease surveillance and outbreak response.
He also disclosed that the statutory Consolidated Revenue Fund allocation to the BHCPF had increased from approximately ₦8.95 billion monthly in January 2023 to ₦20.43 billion monthly.
The minister added that the fund was projected to receive ₦245.1 billion by the end of 2026, subject to the full implementation of the year’s appropriation.
He said 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.
On health insurance, Salako said national enrolment had risen from approximately 16.2 million people in 2023 to 23.06 million by the third quarter of 2026.
He disclosed that 3,182,943 vulnerable Nigerians with National Identification Numbers had been identified as beneficiaries of health insurance coverage supported by the BHCPF.
According to him, the fund had also supported free vesicovaginal fistula surgeries and rehabilitation, emergency caesarean sections and other interventions benefiting 96,068 women and babies.
He said the programme was also being extended to key populations, including people living with HIV and tuberculosis, while health insurance coverage had been approved for approximately 90,000 inmates in correctional facilities nationwide.
Salako said the interventions were part of efforts to protect vulnerable Nigerians from the financial burden of accessing medical treatment.
“Our guiding principle is that the family should not be driven into poverty because of costly treatment,” he said.
At the primary healthcare level, the minister disclosed that 8,309 facilities across the 36 states and the FCT were receiving direct financing under the fund.
He said plans were underway to extend coverage to another 5,212 facilities, bringing the projected total to 13,512 primary healthcare centres.
Salako further reported an increase in primary healthcare attendance from a baseline of 34.55 million in 2023 to 43.06 million by the second quarter of 2026.
He added that the programme recorded an approximately 20 per cent improvement in the number of eligible children under one year receiving the third dose of the pentavalent vaccine, alongside a 63.6 per cent increase in deliveries attended by skilled birth attendants.
According to the minister, predictable financing would enable healthcare facilities to meet their operational needs, obtain essential medical supplies and provide more reliable maternal, newborn and child healthcare services.
“With predictable financing, we expect our covered primary healthcare centres to meet basic operational needs, obtain essential supplies and provide more reliable maternal, newborn, child and preventive healthcare, particularly in communities that historically have limited access,” he said.
The minister said the government was also strengthening emergency medical services, disclosing that 116,571 emergency ambulance service interventions had been recorded since 2023.
He said the services covered labour and obstetric emergencies, neonatal and under-five emergencies, road traffic injuries, snake bites, wounds and other urgent medical conditions.
Salako added that emergency medical services management and operational structures had been established in all 36 states and the FCT.
He said the government was also working to expand emergency transport services to communities with difficult terrain and waterways, while ensuring that patients could access functioning receiving facilities.
On disease surveillance, the minister said the BHCPF-supported Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention Gateway had contributed to preparedness and response activities involving outbreaks of Lassa fever, cholera, diphtheria and mpox.
He explained that the programme was intended to strengthen surveillance, improve preparedness and ensure that states could mobilise resources promptly when disease outbreaks threatened communities.
“The purpose of the gateway is to help ensure that surveillance, preparedness and response can be mobilised promptly, with states equipped to meet their own responsibilities,” he said.
On healthcare personnel, Salako said 78,054 frontline health workers had been trained as of June 2026 under the administration’s programme to retrain 120,000 workers.
He added that the Ministerial Oversight Committee had approved a phased salary-support arrangement for 13,800 community-based health workers and skilled birth attendants.
Under the arrangement, the Federal Government 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.
Salako said the arrangement was designed to encourage state governments to progressively absorb the workers into their employment structures and ensure that communities did not lose essential healthcare personnel when federal support ended.
He stressed that state governments must fulfil their responsibilities under the BHCPF by providing counterpart funding, strengthening oversight and ensuring that healthcare facilities had the personnel and resources required to deliver essential services.
“The Federal Government cannot achieve a functioning primary healthcare system on behalf of states without their sustained participation,” he said.
The minister urged state governments to meet their financial obligations under the programme, citing Katsina State as an example of a government that had recently released ₦240.79 million to its state health insurance agency to expand coverage.
He said the Federal Government would continue strengthening financial monitoring in collaboration with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to ensure that public funds were used for their intended purposes.
Salako added that the Ministerial Oversight Committee had approved the operationalisation of Medipool as a procurement mechanism for essential medicines and health commodities under the fund, subject to price benchmarks, quality requirements and value-for-money safeguards.
He said the initiative was expected to improve the availability of medicines and other essential supplies at healthcare facilities as funding continued to increase.
Looking ahead, the minister said the government would continue working with the National Assembly and state governments to increase funding, expand facility coverage and strengthen accountability.
He said the administration was targeting direct financing for at least 17,600 healthcare facilities as part of efforts to improve access to essential services.
Salako maintained that the success of the fund would ultimately depend on whether increased financing translated into better healthcare outcomes for Nigerians.
“A pregnant woman should not be denied skilled care because the community lacks functional facilities. And Nigerians should have confidence that the public resources appropriated for their health are reaching the places where care is delivered,” he said.
He reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to ensuring that the BHCPF delivers essential healthcare services and financial protection to Nigerians, regardless of their location or economic circumstances.
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