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• Abia emerges best in south east, wins $500,000
• Shettima urges governors to hit ₦3.5trn health budget, hails PHCs compact gains
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Yobe State clinched the top spot in the 2025 Primary Healthcare Leadership Challenge, pocketing a $1.2 million windfall, even as Nigeria’s governors ramped up combined health budgets to ₦2.36 trillion to fortify primary healthcare at the grassroots.
The triumph unfolded at a glittering Award Night in Abuja, stretching from Friday evening into the early hours of Saturday.
Yobe scooped the overall grand prize of $700,000 for its standout dedication to primary healthcare excellence, plus another $500,000 as the North-East’s zonal champion—bringing its total haul to $1.2 million.
Organized by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) alongside the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), and UNICEF—with backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—the event aimed to spark accountability and rivalry among states. The goal: sharper health outcomes and superior care for ordinary Nigerians.
Yobe excelled across key performance indicators, shining in care quality and patient satisfaction. Zonal winners each netted $500,000, while runners-up grabbed $400,000, fueling a cycle of improvement.
Joining Yobe were Nasarawa (North-Central), Zamfara (North-West), Abia (South-East), Rivers (South-South), and Osun (South-West). Runners-up included Gombe (North-East), Kwara (North-Central), Kaduna (North-West), Anambra (South-East), Bayelsa (South-South), and Ogun (South-West).
Abia’s South-East victory underscores its bold strides under Governor Alex Otti, channeling the $500,000 prize into PHC upgrades amid regional pushes for equitable health access.
The $6.1 million total prizes will recharge winners’ infrastructures, staff, and services, syncing with the Federal Government’s National Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative (NHSRII) for universal coverage.
Vice-President Kashim Shettima, represented by Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Ali Pate, thanked governors for three years of transformative health investments under a compact signed two years ago. He spotlighted progress, including 20 states exceeding 2024 targets and a sector-wide programme yielding strong results.
He stressed collaborative action: states, local governments, partners, civil society, and private sector must unite. “Health is a fundamental aspiration of every human being. It is a material thing, it is a physical thing, and it is also a way for us to build our country, to unite it, and to inspire it,” he declared, quoting the proverb: “A healthy person has a thousand wishes, but the sick man has only one wish, which is to get healthy.”
He positioned health as multilayered investment—for today and tomorrow—while addressing affordability amid rising costs for drugs, treatments, and insurance. The federal government is slashing prices, but states must allocate resources transparently to expand reach.
The Vice President projected optimism for the next five years, urging total state health allocations to reach at least ₦3.5 trillion next fiscal year. Investing yields multiple dividends: healthier populations, human capital buildup, social resilience, job creation, and Nigeria producing “long-lasting citizens” as Africa’s first world-class health hub.
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Earlier, NGF Chairman and Kwara Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, represented by Nasarawa Governor Abdullahi Sule—revealed the 36 states’ ₦2.36 trillion 2025 health budget, with 30% for PHCs. “Indeed, over the last three years, States have increased their budget allocations to health, resulting in significant infrastructural upgrades across PHC facilities and expanded recruitment of human resources for health,” AbdulRazaq stated. “The combined health budget for the 36 States has grown from ₦831 billion in 2022, to ₦927 billion in 2023, ₦1.4 trillion in 2024, and ₦2.36 trillion in 2025 with 30 per cent of these annual budgets dedicated to PHC.”
He touted falling maternal mortality and intentional leadership: “The steady progress from the first to the second round and now to the third demonstrates clearly that when leadership is intentional and accountable, measurable and transformative change is possible.” A 2026 scorecard will track governors’ Health Sector Renewal Compact pledges.
Speaking for the winning states at the Primary Healthcare (PHC) Challenge Fund event in Abuja, Abia State Governor Alex Otti expressed profound gratitude to global partners like the World Bank, UNDP, UNICEF, and other development agencies, crediting their unwavering backing for the celebrated milestones.
He underscored the value of steadfastness and clear purpose in governance, pointing out that true advancements often stem from competitions that spur top-tier performance.
He highlighted how inter-state rivalry has elevated benchmarks, fostering innovation, transparency, and superior results in healthcare delivery.
“When you know what you are doing and you keep doing it, someone will notice,” he said, adding that the Challenge Fund has helped states distinguish themselves through measurable results.
Stressing strategic health funding, Otti called on leaders to treat healthcare expenditure as an essential investment in human lives and national growth—not mere overhead—while pledging that states would keep pushing boundaries in health metrics. He extended thanks on behalf of federal and state leaders to all collaborators.
NPHCDA Executive Director Muyi Aina praised the governors partnerships for driving PHC revamps nationwide.
Earlier, Deputy Director for Health Systems Strengthening at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Nkata Chuku, celebrated Nigeria’s PHC strides since the 2019 Seattle Declaration with 12 governors. “Your endorsement of the Seattle Declaration, and the consistent progress you have pursued remains one of the clearest demonstrations of Nigeria’s commitment to reform, prioritize, and sustainably finance PHC,” she told the Abuja audience.
Highlighting 2025 data, Chuku noted routine immunization’s rise, with national Penta3 coverage hitting the high-60s and several states above 75%—up from low-60s in 2022.
Over 500,000 zero-dose children received vaccines since July 2024, closing 24% of the 2.1 million gap via outreach, including October’s polio-RI drive. Skilled birth attendance and ANC4 coverage topped 50%, malaria interventions expanded, family planning uptake grew 10%, though stunting (40%) and wasting persist in vulnerable areas.
The integrated polio-RI campaign in 20+ states slashed cVPV2 cases from triple digits to under 50 in the past year, bridged immunity gaps, and linked polio assets to routine PHC—but virus pockets linger in Sokoto, Zamfara, Taraba, Katsina, Bauchi, and Borno with 123 cases across 45 LGAs.
He noted that the Gates Foundation’s $27 million investment—70% in performance awards—powered the PHC Challenge Fund to spur zonal competition on lean indicators like leadership, funding, and care quality.
Opportunities include renewed state budgets, insurance growth, and partner incentives; challenges encompass insecurity, zero-dose clusters, seasonal surges, and data gaps.
As the Federal Ministry mainstreams the fund into reforms, Chuku called for vigilance: “The 2025 trends are encouraging, but they also remind us that progress is fragile, especially in the context of polio recovery and essential service delivery.”
Chuku congratulated all stakeholders affirming: “The Challenge Fund is a tool. Your leadership is the engine that will deliver lasting change for every Nigerian family.”
