The Nigerian government has approved the disbursement of ₦32.9 billion for the fourth quarter of 2025 through the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF), strengthening primary healthcare delivery and expanding health insurance coverage across its 36 states.
The funds are programmed to be disbursed in January 2026, aligning with the BHCPF 2.0 Guidelines.
Permanent Secretary of Nigeria’s Health Ministry said the fourth release of funds under the BHCPF was a reflection of the government’s commitment to improved financing, accountability and transparency in the health sector.
Kachallom Daju said the approach is aimed at ensuring smooth flow of funding to improve service delivery at primary healthcare levels.
“This will be done in January so that the process is safely completed and so that we can support patients on a more regular basis”, Kachallom said on Friday at the fourth quarterly meeting of the Ministerial Oversight Committee (MOC) for 2025, in Abuja the country’s capital.
In order to strengthen local government participation and the establishment of a Citizens’ Response Centre (CRC) to enhance transparency, citizen feedback, and accountability in the health sector, including BHCPF-supported intervention, she revealed the inclusion of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) as a member of the MOC, meant to boost cohesion.
She praised the impacts made in the health sector, under the President Bola Tinubu led adminstration, spearheaded by coordinating Minister of Health, the Minister of State, agency heads, and directors, all working under a compact framework signed in 2023 and reinforced in subsequent agreements.
“Health is intangible; they are not things you can touch, but you can feel them. These reforms (by the government) are being driven by a coordinated leadership structure”, she added.
Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Muyi Aina enumerated that regular BHCPF disbursements added to measurable gains in primary healthcare services across the country.
He said rising utilisation of primary healthcare centres, improved immunisation coverage, and increased uptake of other essential health services. While revealing that from January 2026, low-volume facilities will receive ₦600,000 per quarter, with high-volume facilities receiving ₦800,000, replacing the previous flat-rate system, he said the approach was designed to better align resources with patient load, improve service readiness, and reduce out-of-pocket health spending.
Dr Kelechi Ohiri said health insurance coverage has witnessed improvements, driven by stronger coordination and accountability across the health sector. Recognising that the MOC has enhanced transparency by publishing details of transfers from the 1% Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) to states and local governments, the Director-General of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) stated that it has enabled Nigerians to track the utilisation of health funds and how it’s allocated.