Muhammad Pate, Minister of Health and Social Welfare, has disclosed that from 2023 to date, nearly N50 billion has been disbursed directly to Primary Health Centers (PHCs) across Nigeria.
He revealed that the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF) facilitated the funding, resulting in over 37 million visits to PHCs in the first quarter of 2025 alone.
Pate made this know while sharing updates on the country’s primary healthcare sector on his X account on Sunday.
BHCPF: funding and purpose
According to Pate, the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund is designed to be financed from at least 1% of the Federal Government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund and other sources, including donors’ contributions.
“It provides a Basic Minimum Package of Health Services aimed at increasing the fiscal space for health and strengthening our national health systems.
“I am pleased to inform you that from 2023 to date, nearly N50 billion has been disbursed directly to over 8,000 Primary Health Centers across the country through the Fund, with verifiably impressive results, and this has led to the qualitative modernization of health infrastructure across all local government areas of Nigeria,” he added.
Under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, Pate noted that the administration is on track to surpass the 2024 record of 2.4 million annual health insurance enrollments later this year.
“This comes at a time when President Tinubu’s administration has disbursed over N20 billion to support the rehabilitation and upgrade of 4,362 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) across the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the BHCPF over the past two years, with similarly indelible impact across the southern states,” he said.
Record visits and data-driven reforms
Pate also highlighted that over 37 million visits to primary health centers across all local government areas were recorded in the first quarter of 2025 alone, emphasizing a data-driven re-engineering of basic healthcare provision for Africa’s largest population.
“It is my pleasure to share further insight into President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Sub-National Health Support Plan in this comprehensive briefing from my desk,” he said.
The Minister recalled that President Tinubu made it clear that he expected a unified and harmonious approach to transforming Nigeria’s healthcare system, with a keen focus on improvements from primary care up to secondary, tertiary, and quaternary levels.
As a former CEO of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Pate emphasized that he knew the President’s mandate was well considered.
“Quality healthcare provision at the grassroots of our country remains a major focal point for all our efforts towards re-engineering healthcare delivery in all 704 local governments and 36 states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.
One of the major vehicles driving this transformation is the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF), established in 2014 under Section 11 of the National Health Act.
Pate described the fund as an anchor for the sector-wide approach, providing an additional resource base for states and local governments to leverage in enhancing access to primary healthcare across Nigeria.
More insights
At the tertiary level, Pate noted that over 300 projects have been executed in northern Nigeria, serving more than 4.5 million outpatients and 1.6 million inpatients.
He said, “Under the empathetic and strong leadership of the President, Nigerians can expect the total transformation of the nation’s primary healthcare system, which is already manifesting tangible results.”
Pate also recalled that in June 2024, President Tinubu signed a landmark executive order providing tariff waivers on imported raw materials for pharmaceutical production, a bold move aimed at encouraging local drug and biotech manufacturing.
He urged Nigerians to keep faith as the government works to deliver on the President’s reform agenda across the sector, expressing confidence that President Bola Tinubu will succeed and that ultimately every Nigerian will benefit as the President continues to do the hard work he was elected to do, ending with a blessing for the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
