Federal Gov’t To Upgrade 2,701 PHCs

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has said that the federal government has revitalised 901 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) across the country, and plans to upgrade an additional 2,701 PHCs.

Executive Director of NPHCDA, Dr. Muyi Aina, disclosed this during the agency’s 2025 First Quarter Press Briefing on Tuesday in Abuja, coinciding with African Vaccination Week.

Dr. Aina said that the agency has completed an unprecedented nationwide assessment of more than 18,000 PHCs. According to him, the findings revealed that only about 20 per cent of initially assessed facilities met the required standards for service delivery.

“We started with 1,600 facilities under the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), and while many were offering services, just a fifth met our minimum functional benchmarks,” Aina noted.

In response to these findings, the NPHCDA said it is scaling up its support by expanding the number of PHCs under the BHCPF from 8,406 to 17,600.

As part of its ongoing reforms under the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) 2.0, Dr. Aina said the NPHCDA has increased the quarterly funding for PHCs. High-volume PHCs will now receive N800,000 per quarter, while low-volume centres will get N600,000, up from the previous N300,000 allocation.

The funding is meant to boost service delivery alongside income from the National Health Insurance Authority and other insurance programmes, he said.

He also said that the government was mobilising more donor resources for PHC support, with a significant boost coming from a $1 billion fund facilitated by the President and the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare.

“Our goal is to have at least one functional PHC per ward (defined as a PHC able to safely deliver a pregnant woman 24 hours a day) across the country.

“We have assessed PHCs in two batches, BHCPF 8,400+ in batch 1 AND 18,024 in batch 2. In the last year, working with the States, development partners and the private sector, I am glad to report that we have jointly revitalised 901 PHCs.

“The revitalisation drive is backed by a $1 billion federal commitment, aimed at improving infrastructure, medical equipment, availability of skilled personnel, and linkages to referral facilities for advanced care such as caesarean sections and emergency obstetric services.

“In 2024, a total of N22billion was disbursed to States in 2024 through NPHCDA gateway while N51billion was disbursed across all four BHCPF gateways. This year, we are substantially increasing the amount of money going to the facilities. he explained.

To bolster accountability and transparency, Aina announced the launch of digital innovations, including a public-facing PHC dashboard and a financial management app already piloted in four states. “We want Nigerians to track progress in real time and hold the system accountable,” he said.

The press briefing also marked the kickoff of African Vaccination Week 2025, themed “Immunization for All is Humanity Possible.” Dr. Eshetu Wassie of the World Health Organization emphasised that vaccines have saved over 154 million lives globally in the last 50 years, equivalent to six lives every minute.

UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Ms. Christian Munduate, raised concerns about Nigeria’s “zero-dose” children  infants who have not received a single vaccine. “One in three Nigerian children still remains unreached. These are the most vulnerable among us,” she said, urging stronger funding and collaboration.