Tinubu’s Health Sector Reforms Yielding Tangible Gains — Pate

Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Ali Pate, has said reforms implemented in Nigeria’s health sector under President Bola Tinubu were yielding “tangible” results.

He cited improvements in reduced mortality rates, immunisation coverage, disease control and local healthcare production.

Pate stated this on Sunday night while outlining achievements in the sector while speaking on Channels TV’s current affairs programme, ‘Sunday Politics’.

“It’s good news that unless someone is closing their eyes, when I say there is a 17 per cent decline from 2023 in 172 local governments, that’s a start. That’s some good news,” he said. “When we say under-five mortality is showing a trend that is going down, when we’re saying increase in antenatal care and immunisation, these are very tangible.”

The minister said surveys conducted between 2023 and 2025 showed that Nigerians were beginning to feel the impact of the reforms, stressing, however, that decades of under-investment could not be reversed in just two years.

“Is it solved? No. We cannot solve in just two years what have been longstanding issues of under-investment and structural defects in the Nigerian health system,” Pate said. “But what people appreciate is that there is a steady move towards improving the health system, and we need to rally around as a country and deliver on that.”

He highlighted the federal government’s efforts to unlock the healthcare value chain and reduce import dependence, noting that Nigeria recently recorded a major milestone in local manufacturing.

“Four days ago in Ogun State, the first dual active ingredient insecticide manufacturing plant was inaugurated. Two years ago, you would say it was impossible,” he said. “This is the first time that such latest technology that will produce dual active ingredient bed nets to fight malaria is happening in Nigeria.”

Pate noted that although more than a billion insecticide-treated nets have been distributed across Africa, they were largely imported, a trend the new facility aims to reverse.

“Now we have that plant here. There are many of those things beginning to happen. You can go and see the plant, rapid diagnostic kits, pharmaceutical plants that are expanding. These are tangible things,” he added.

On disease surveillance and outbreak control, the minister said improved vigilance by public health authorities had significantly reduced the spread of infectious diseases.

“In the last two years, outbreaks have been minimised because the CDC, together with states and partners, have been very vigilant in surveillance,” he said. “Even when there was diphtheria in 2023 across 14 states, today nobody is talking about diphtheria. There are still cases, but they are much lower.”

He said Nigeria was the first African country to introduce the pentavalent conjugate meningococcal vaccine last year, which helped halt a meningitis outbreak.

“Mpox, you hear it in other places. We have a few cases, about 40, but we do not have explosions. Cholera in 2024 was massive, but this year there was proactivity by the Ministry of Water Resources, states and the CDC to protect public health,” Pate said.

According to him, Nigeria’s health reforms have also attracted global recognition, including at a high-level forum on universal health coverage in Tokyo.

“There were only eight countries in that group, and Nigeria was one of them,” he said. “The Government of Japan, the World Health Organization and other global institutions appreciated the reforms this president is putting in place.”

The minister also pointed to improvements in primary healthcare delivery, saying over 3,000 level-two facilities had been revitalised nationwide.

“More than 3,000 facilities have been revitalised in the last two years. Rural facilities are operating 24 hours with staffing and housing. This is part of PHC revitalisation,” he said. “If you go to the NPHCDA website, you can track these facilities. It wasn’t done before. Now it is beginning to happen.”

Pate acknowledged the role of the private sector in healthcare delivery, noting increased investments, including advanced medical technology.

“Recently in Abuja, I commissioned a robotic surgical platform. You would think robotic surgery in Nigeria is impossible, but it’s happening here,” he said.

On health financing, the minister said increased budgetary allocation reflected growing political will.

“Less than four per cent of the federal budget used to go to health. Now it’s over 5.4 per cent,” he said. “Is it enough? No. But we’ve blocked the trend. We’ve never gone this high before, and that is something to celebrate.”

He added that state governments were being encouraged to match federal investments, noting that governors cumulatively invested about ₦2.6 trillion in health in 2024.

“As the federal government increases resources, states should also increase, so we can mobilise public and private spending to purchase the health services Nigerians need,” Pate said.