The federal government has concluded the review of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) operational guidelines and is set to commence the 2024 audit exercise by mid-July.
These efforts are part of ongoing initiatives to improve transparency and strengthen primary healthcare financing in Nigeria.
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The Secretary of the BHCPF Ministerial Oversight Committee (MOC), Oritseweyimi Ogbe, disclosed this during the 11th MOC meeting held on Monday in Abuja.
While presenting the Secretariat’s update, Mr Ogbe noted that the revised BHCPF Guideline (version 2.0) received provisional approval during the Q1 meeting.
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He added that the guideline would now be disseminated following consultations by the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate.
He also disclosed that financial audits for 2022 and 2023, covering all four gateways at both national and sub-national levels, had been completed.
Mr Ogbe noted that a draft of the audit reports is expected from the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation (OAGF), after which a close-out meeting will be held.
“Since its inception in 2019, the BHCPF has disbursed over N159.2 billion across various gateways to support primary healthcare delivery nationwide,” he said.
“However, disbursements for Q1 and Q2 of 2025 are still pending due to initial delays in fund releases and recent changes in Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) account signatories,” he said.
Mr Ogbe said that a memo regarding the pending 2025 disbursement is being prepared, and efforts are ongoing to align performance tracking with the National Health Sector Reform Implementation Initiative (NHSRII).
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He added that the Secretariat is working closely with the Monitoring and Evaluation units of the gateways to identify priority BHCPF indicators that directly support the national reform agenda.
To enhance public awareness, he noted that the MOC Secretariat is collaborating with the ICT Department of the Federal Ministry of Health to create a dedicated BHCPF section on the Ministry’s official website.
“Additional next steps include finalising and circulating the 2022 and 2023 audit reports and intensifying the monitoring of performance-based indicators under the HOPE PHC Delivery Linked Indicators (DLIs), which fall under the MOC’s direct oversight.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the BHCPF, established under the National Health Act, is a key health financing mechanism aimed at delivering a basic minimum package of healthcare services, especially for vulnerable populations.
(NAN)
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