(*3*)
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako, disclosed this throughout a ministerial briefing on three years of implementation and reforms beneath the BHCPF, in Abuja.
He additionally revealed the federal authorities’s plans to broaden direct financing to at the very least 17,600 major healthcare amenities and supply medical health insurance protection for about 90,000 inmates in correctional centres nationwide.
Salako, who spoke on behalf of the Ministerial Oversight Committee (MOC), mentioned the fund remained a essential instrument for bettering entry to important healthcare providers, significantly for poor and weak Nigerians.
He mentioned whole releases to the fund stood at N422.3 billion as of September 2026, whereas cumulative disbursements have been anticipated to rise from N323.6 billion to N364.3 billion following the approval of an extra N40.76 billion by the MOC on October 14, 2026.
Of the projected N364.3 billion, N290.2 billion would have been disbursed beneath President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
The minister attributed the reforms to the implementation of the BHCPF Guidelines 2.0, which launched performance-linked disbursements, direct facility financing, stronger accountability measures and the usage of distinctive beneficiary identifiers to enhance transparency.
Established beneath the National Health Act, 2014, the BHCPF is designed to enhance entry to fundamental healthcare providers and cut back monetary limitations to therapy, significantly amongst weak populations.
Salako mentioned the fund had change into central to the implementation of the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative launched by the Tinubu administration in December 2023.
On monetary safety, the minister mentioned nationwide medical health insurance enrolment elevated from roughly 16.2 million folks in 2023 to 23.06 million by the third quarter of 2026.
He disclosed that 3,182,943 weak Nigerians with National Identification Numbers had acquired medical health insurance protection via the BHCPF.
The fund had additionally supported free vesicovaginal fistula surgical procedures and rehabilitation, emergency caesarean sections and different emergency obstetric and new child care interventions for 96,068 ladies and infants.
According to him, the MOC had authorised medical health insurance protection for roughly 90,000 inmates in correctional amenities to broaden their entry to important healthcare providers.
At the first healthcare degree, Salako mentioned 8,309 amenities throughout the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory have been at the moment receiving direct facility financing.
He mentioned the federal government deliberate to increase the financing association to an extra 5,212 amenities, bringing the projected whole to 13,521.
Looking forward, Salako mentioned the federal authorities was working with the National Assembly to extend the statutory allocation to the BHCPF from one per cent to 2 per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
The proposal would additionally broaden the fund’s scope to incorporate areas comparable to well being analysis and promotion.
He mentioned the federal government meant to enhance effectivity and accountability, broaden direct financing to at the very least 17,600 amenities and strengthen state-level commitments to the fund consistent with the National Health Act.
The minister mentioned the success of the BHCPF would in the end be measured by its impression on weak households, pregnant ladies, kids and communities with restricted entry to important healthcare.
He added that sustained collaboration amongst federal and state governments, healthcare establishments and growth companions was vital to make sure that elevated home well being financing translated into improved well being outcomes and safety in opposition to unaffordable medical bills.
