PHC Awards: Gombe Wins $400,000, Rated Second In North-East

Gombe State has won $400,000 prize for good leadership in healthcare governance and delivery at the highly competitive 2025 Primary Health Care (PHC) Leadership Challenge, clinching second place in the North-East geopolitical zone.

The award was presented to the Gombe State delegation during the 2025 PHC Leadership Challenge Awards Night, held at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja, an event chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima.

Isma’ila Uba Misilli, that media aide to the Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, on Saturday, said that the achievement marks a strong validation of the state’s sustained commitment to strengthening its primary healthcare system.

The state achieved the same feat last year, winning the PHC Leadership Challenge Innovation Award, emerging second in the region, and also securing a $400,000 reward.

The PHC Leadership Challenge is a collaborative initiative coordinated by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) with the support from the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), UNICEF, the Gates Foundation, and the Aliko Dangote Foundation.

The initiative aims to motivate states to dramatically improve their primary healthcare systems across key metrics, including governance, financing, service quality, sustainability, and overall health outcomes, in line with the Seattle Declaration commitments adopted by all 36 state governors in 2019.

Vice President Shettima, represented by the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, congratulated Gombe and the other winning states.

He commended state governors for their leadership, which has led to significant successes in implementing health programmes nationwide.

The VP highlighted the Federal Government’s strong political will to reposition the health sector, noting plans to increase budgetary allocations to health under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, explained that the challenge was conceived to stimulate healthy competition among states, ultimately serving the well-being of Nigerians.

Speaking at the event, Gombe State Deputy Governor, Manassah Daniel Jatau, who represented Governor Yahaya, expressed delight over the award and the substantial financial reward.

He described the feat as a powerful validation of the state’s deliberate and sustained investments in the health sector.

According to the statement, Governor Yahaya, since assuming office in 2019, has placed healthcare at the core of his administration, famously beginning with the declaration of a state of emergency on health which spearheaded comprehensive revitalisation of at least one fully functional Primary Health Care Centre in each of the state’s 114 wards at the first instance, with many wards now boasting two or more facilities.

Simultaneously, secondary healthcare institutions were upgraded.

The push has driven wide-ranging reforms, including the establishment of critical health agencies and sustained investments in infrastructure and human resources.

These interventions have significantly improved health outcomes and expanded access to quality services, positioning Gombe State as a national model for achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Nigeria.