The Coordinating Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, in a TV broadcast a week ago, highlighted the achievements of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration in Nigeria’s healthcare sector. The minister said, “Nigeria’s healthcare sector is being built on a foundation of resilience and agility. In a world where emerging and re-emerging diseases can rapidly turn global, the Federal Government of Nigeria is working hard to prepare our national institutions, health professionals, and scientists.”
This informed our resolve to reposition the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to be a pre-eminent reference point on our continent and globally for disease surveillance, prevention, preparedness, and response. The leadership of our President has produced several important breakthroughs that promise to enable our country to effectively prevent or respond to any new or recurring health emergencies.
Recently, we launched the National Genomics Surveillance Strategy and the Nigerian Genomics Consortium. This is crucial because Genomics Technology will revolutionize the way we detect, monitor, and respond to infectious diseases.
Globally, antimicrobial resistance, a mechanism through which microorganisms mutate and evolve to resist the effect of antibiotics designed to kill them, has attracted significant global attention due to its wide-ranging effects on public health, health outcomes, and the economy more broadly.
As the host nation of the 5th Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on AMR, which will be held next year, 2026, in Abuja, Nigeria has taken the lead in integrating genomics into its AMR surveillance systems, thereby enhancing our ability to track pathogens, anticipate future health threats, and advance precision health medicine and efficient public health intervention.
Prof. Pate also said, “While we acknowledge that support from various mechanisms globally can be essential in financing these efforts and ensuring that Nigeria is equipped to combat AMR resistance effectively, we still take full responsibility for mobilizing as many domestic resources as possible to protect Africa’s largest population and stay perpetually ahead of the curve.”
The Federal Government, through the NCDC, has already commissioned the Integrated Disease Reference Laboratory in Lagos for neglected tropical diseases, malaria, fungal diseases, and others. The NCDC has expanded diagnostics access with new mpox and Lassa fever labs and optimized existing laboratories in 13 states, thereby reducing the turnaround time for outbreak confirmation and case classification to 24-48 hours due to an effective interstate transportation system and network.
Having achieved the globally reputed ISO 15189 accreditation for the National Reference Laboratory and a 5-star rating for the National Public Health Laboratory, Nigeria, through the NCDC, has developed a Laboratory Data Management System that displays the dashboard of specific epidemic-prone diseases for immediate notification and strain identification.
“Disease surveillance and response would be entirely untenable without institutional coherence between federal and state entities in the sector,” Prof. Pate said. “This is why the NCDC operates effectively under the sector-wide approach framework. The system has been recognized by the WHO as a global model for early action review based on implementation evidence generated here in Nigeria.”
Prof. Pate was highly spirited in the broadcast as he spoke about Nigeria’s reforms in healthcare delivery that are gaining worldwide recognition. Nigeria is leading the world, actually, in some key areas, especially in epidemics and pandemics management.
These developments in Nigeria’s healthcare system are pointers to why TIME magazine recognized Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate as one of TIME’s most influential 100 healthcare personalities in 2025. A few days ago, at the 4th Congress and Scientific Conference of the Association of West African Societies of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (AWSOG)/West African College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (WACOG), the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare was also conferred with the Award of Excellence in Health Systems Performance in Nigeria.
The minister has been pursuing reforms that are transforming health financing in Nigeria. In line with these reforms, the President has approved the provision of mandatory health insurance for federal workers, along with plans to collaborate with the private sector in implementation. As it stands, more than 20 million Nigerians are covered by the health insurance scheme. A lot of effort is being put into reducing high out-of-pocket spending.
The Renewed Hope Agenda under the National Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative (NHSRII) has seen the renovation of 1,295 primary healthcare centers, training of 69,000 frontline health workers, and the purchase of medicines and equipment worth N23 billion.
The Renewed Hope Agenda, driven by NHSRII, is revolutionizing our healthcare delivery systems, which will lead to the manufacture and distribution of medical equipment, drugs, medical fabrics, training of medical personnel, etc. Nigeria is now set for the production of mosquito nets, just as 22 pharmaceutical companies are investing about $5 billion to set up pharmaceutical industries that will eliminate the importation of drugs into Nigeria by 2030.
Other achievements of NHSRII include the provision of free C-section operations for pregnant women in Federal Government hospitals, the drastic reduction in the cost of dialysis for patients with kidney diseases from N80,000 to N12,000, as well as free healthcare services for the first 48 hours in cases of emergency. Six world-class oncology centers have also been launched, with one in each of the geopolitical zones, bringing the treatment of cancer closer to patients who previously had to travel abroad for proper treatment.
The Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President has definitely lived up to its expectations, and the nation’s renewed hope healthcare engineer, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, is really celebrating his 58th birthday in style. His energy and experience are combining smoothly to change the nation’s healthcare delivery story, under a very supportive President who is aiding the funding of federal programs and the commitment and participation of state governments.
Prof. Pate is from Bauchi. We are proud of Prof., who is arguably Nigeria’s finest health minister so far. My best wishes to the Prof! Bauchi and environs are very proud of you.
