LASG Deepens Reforms In Health Sector

Lagos State Ministry of Health, in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health and the Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp) Coordination Office, on Wednesday, flagged off a four-day capacity development workshop for health leaders and managers to strengthen health sector coordination and planning.

The workshop is part of the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative (NHSRII), themed “Towards Rational, Realistic, Pragmatic and Comprehensive Plan that Informs Health Budget for the People of Lagos State.”

The high-level workshop brought together state directors, medical officers of health, LGA health managers, development partners, project desk officers, and technical experts to strengthen leadership, strategic thinking, and planning skills for evidence-based health system reforms in Lagos.

The workshop is aimed at introducing participants to tools and frameworks such as the web-based Annual Operational Planning (AOP) tool, sector-wide approach (SWAp), systems thinking, and performance-based planning, geared towards improving evidence-based decision-making and aligning federal and state priorities.

The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Health, Dr. (Mrs.) Kemi Ogunyemi, who declared the workshop open, described the session as more than a training.

According to her, it is a strategic moment of truth for health managers to take full ownership of ongoing reforms and prepare to cascade them effectively to frontline workers across Lagos.

“This four-day session is about leadership mindset, systems understanding, and service transformation,” she stressed.

She emphasised that Lagos is already aligned with the SWAp architecture, which emphasises harmonisation, mutual accountability, and coordination between government and development partners.

“The HOPE Project and NHSRII are not abstract programmes. They are vehicles to translate vision into action. But they only succeed when leaders and managers connect strategy to service delivery, and policy to performance,” she said.

Ogunyemi challenged participants to engage fully and ask the difficult questions. “It’s not enough to sit through this workshop. You must interrogate the policies, contextualise them for Lagos, and make them work for our people. Shake the table. If something won’t work in Lagos, say so. That’s the only way to adapt without losing the essence of what the Federal Government aims to achieve.”

She also highlighted persistent challenges like maternal and infant health indicators, urging state managers to reflect on what data reveals and how federal collaboration can provide tailored solutions.

Representing the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye, the Director of Healthcare Planning, Research and Statistics, Dr. Olajumoke Oyenuga, described the workshop as a strategic opportunity to deepen planning, coordination, and implementation capacity across all levels of care in Lagos.

“This workshop will introduce you to powerful tools like the web-based Annual Operational Planning (AOP) tool, and teach you about system thinking, bottleneck analysis, and service integration—all critical to moving from plans to real impact,” Oyenuga noted.

She added that the hands-on sessions will also explore alternate analysis techniques, performance-based planning models, and accountability frameworks tailored to state-level implementation.