On Tuesday, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, officially rolled out the country’s Basic Health Care Provision Fund as appropriated by the National Assembly in the 2018 budget.
The fund will be financed by 1% of the federal government’s consolidated revenue in addition to contributions from donors.
Nigeria is earmarking N55 .1 billion to the basket fund of the BHCPF, while the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has contributed $2 million, out of which $ 1.5 million has been released.
The Global Financing Facility (GFF) has also committed $20 million to the fund, while the Department for International Development (DFID) is also putting 50 million pounds sterling over the next five years.
At the rollout, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced it will commit $75 million to immunisation intervention in Nigeria over the next five years.
The country director, Paul Bassinga, said the foundation was impressed with the improvement of immunisation activities in the country and as such will be using the money it pledged to strengthen immunisation, with the expectation that the federal government will honour its commitment to the immunisation basket fund.
Commending Nigeria for its effort in improving immunisation services across the country, he said rigorous investment in the primary healthcare centres in rural area is very crucial to achieving effective immunisation coverage in the country.
“This year marks a significant progress in Nigeria as immunisation rate increased. This is the first year were we have seen improvement even in the rural areas and almost all the states. This shows that when you provide vaccines at the facilities nearest to the people, people will surely go there to receive the services. This is what we are committed to in BMGF, to ensure that vaccines are available and that why we are committing the $75 million for the next five years,” he said.
No corruption
In his remark at the event, President Buhari promised to ensure the funds are judiciously used. According to him, machineries have been put in place to prevent fund diversion.
“I am told that very strict accountability and transparency mechanisms have been put in place to ensure there is no corruption in the use of the funds,” the president said.
In the first phase of the roll out of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, six states and the FCT were activated while other states are expected to benefit from the Fund as they fulfill the laid down criteria for accessing the Fund.
