• Super Admin
• 08 Mar, 2026

When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office in 2023, Nigeria's health sector was at a breaking point. Decades of underinvestment had hollowed out infrastructure, driven health professionals abroad, and eroded public confidence. The challenge before the new administration was not merely to reform, but to rebuild trust in a system millions depended on for survival. Two years later, the story is changing. A decisive shift began with the appointment of Muhammad Ali Pate as Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare. A physician and global public health expert with prior leadership at the World Bank, Prof. Pate returned with a clear mandate: to save lives, strengthen systems, and ensure equitable healthcare for all Nigerians. To drive accountability, the ministry introduced a performance dashboard tracking health indicators across all 774 local government areas. Funding was coordinated through pooled domestic resources, the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, and strategic partnerships with organisations such as Gavi, the Global Fund, and the World Bank. Within two years, reforms under the Renewed Hope Agenda began reshaping hospitals, clinics, laboratories, and primary healthcare centres nationwide. Central to this effort was the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, formalised through a Sector-Wide Approach Compact signed in 2023 by federal and state governments, development partners, and private-sector stakeholders. This framework was operationalised through a Health Sector Strategic Blueprint, anchored on four priorities: strengthening governance and accountability; improving quality and equity of care; unlocking the healthcare value chain through local production; and reinforcing national health security and emergency preparedness. Primary healthcare -- Nigeria's most critical access point -- has seen unprecedented revitalisation. Thousands of facilities have been upgraded, service integration has improved, and quality scores have risen sharply. Over 17,000 PHCs are targeted for revitalisation nationwide. Maternal and child health outcomes have also improved significantly through the Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII). Millions of pregnant women received essential supplements, thousands of free caesarean sections were conducted, and midwifery kits were distributed nationwide, reducing preventable deaths. In MAMII priority LGAs, maternal mortality declined by more than half. Health workforce development has been re-engineered to counter brain drain and strengthen capacity. Training institutions expanded intake, nursing enrolment quadrupled, and over 60,000 frontline workers and health managers were retrained. The National Health Fellows Programme deployed young professionals to every LGA, strengthening local accountability and innovation. Health insurance coverage -- long stagnant -- has expanded rapidly. Millions of Nigerians were newly enrolled, including vulnerable populations supported through the BHCPF. The Catastrophic Health Insurance Fund now cushions the cost of cancer treatment, dialysis, and other high-burden conditions, while reforms to the National Health Insurance Authority are unlocking private-sector participation. Public health financing has risen substantially. The health budget more than doubled between 2023 and 2025, while blended financing mobilised billions of dollars for system strengthening, including Project HOPE for resilient primary care. Outstanding liabilities were cleared, and vaccine procurement funding was fully released to national agencies. Local pharmaceutical production has gained momentum through the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain. Import duties on raw materials were waived, dozens of manufacturers engaged, and partnerships signed with global firms to expand diagnostics, imaging, and drug production. Nigeria has also entered strategic cooperation with Brazil to deepen pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing. Routine immunisation has delivered historic gains. Tens of millions of children have been vaccinated against measles, yellow fever, diphtheria, HPV, and malaria, with Nigeria recording one of the highest HPV coverage rates globally. The country also introduced Africa's first Mpox vaccine and strengthened tuberculosis and malaria control efforts. Emergency medical services have expanded nationwide, with most states now onboarded into a coordinated ambulance and referral system. Thousands of pregnant women, accident victims, and children have received free emergency transport and care, particularly in rural and underserved areas. Health security has been reinforced through expanded laboratory networks, digital disease surveillance, improved outbreak response coordination, and stronger strategic stockpiles under the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. Labour relations in the health sector are also stabilising. Hazard allowances are being processed, residency training arrears cleared, and salary adjustments institutionalised -- steps that contributed to the suspension of recent industrial actions by resident doctors. Public confidence is responding. Hospital utilisation has surged, medical tourism has declined sharply, and citizen trust in emergency response has risen markedly since 2023. While the journey continues, the direction is clear. From revitalised primary care and expanded insurance to stronger emergency systems and local manufacturing, Nigeria's health sector is undergoing not just reform, but renewal. With sustained collaboration across all levels of government and communities, a resilient, equitable, and people-centred health system is no longer aspirational -- it is emerging as Nigeria's new reality. Under the Renewed Hope Agenda, the health of the nation is steadily becoming the wealth of its people. Under the Renewed Hope Agenda, President Tinubu has placed healthcare at the centre of national development, approaching it not as a social obligation alone but as a strategic pillar of economic resilience and human security. This shift in thinking has begun to yield measurable results across governance, financing, service delivery, and workforce development. The turning point came in 2023 with the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, anchored on a Sector-Wide Approach that brought federal, state, and local governments into a single reform framework. For the first time in years, health planning is coordinated, performance is tracked, and accountability is shared. The Health Sector Strategic Blueprint that followed has provided clear direction -- strengthening governance, expanding equitable access, boosting local production, and securing national health preparedness. Primary healthcare, long neglected despite being the first point of contact for most Nigerians, is receiving renewed attention. Facilities are being revitalised, services expanded, and frontline delivery strengthened, laying the groundwork for universal health coverage. The administration's commitment is perhaps most evident in maternal and child health. Through the Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative, millions of pregnant women have received essential supplements, while thousands of free caesarean sections have been carried out nationwide. Complementing these efforts, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has led the distribution of midwifery kits across the country -- an intervention already improving outcomes in hard-to-reach communities. Equally significant is the renewed focus on Nigeria's health workforce. Training capacity has expanded, nursing enrolment has surged, and thousands of frontline workers and health managers have been retrained. The National Health Fellows Programme, deploying young professionals to every local government, reflects a long-term investment in leadership, innovation, and system sustainability. Health financing reform has marked a decisive break from the past. For decades, insurance coverage stagnated at single-digit levels. Under President Tinubu, millions of Nigerians have been newly enrolled, including vulnerable populations covered through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund. The health budget doubled from ₦1.17 trillion in 2023 to ₦2.71 trillion in 2025. Through blended financing, over $3.4 billion was mobilized, including $1 billion for Project HOPE, a program aimed at improving PHC quality and resilience. The introduction of the Catastrophic Health Insurance Fund -- backed by a ₦25 billion allocation -- now protects families from the crushing cost of cancer care, dialysis, and other high-burden treatments. Reforms within the National Health Insurance Authority have further expanded private sector participation and access to essential services. Beyond service delivery, the administration has taken strategic steps to secure medicine availability and affordability. Executive actions waiving import duties and VAT on critical inputs, alongside the Presidential Initiative to Unlock the Healthcare Value Chain, are catalysing local pharmaceutical and medical manufacturing -- reducing dependence on imports and strengthening national self-reliance. Preventive care has also seen major gains. Routine immunisation coverage has expanded, millions of children have been protected against measles and yellow fever, adolescent girls vaccinated against HPV, and malaria vaccination introduced for children -- critical investments in the nation's future. Perhaps most telling is the gradual return of public trust. Surveys now show growing confidence in the direction of the health sector and in government capacity to respond to health emergencies -- a stark contrast to the cynicism that prevailed before 2023. Challenges remain, and no serious reformer pretends otherwise. But the direction is clear. Expansion of protection for vulnerable groups, completion of cancer treatment centres, scale-up of malaria interventions, and the revitalisation of thousands of primary healthcare centres are already underway. President Tinubu has often said that no Nigerian should die simply because they are poor. In placing healthcare at the heart of governance, his administration is beginning to turn that principle into policy -- and policy into lived reality. Source: https://thesun.ng/renewed-hope-in-healthcare-how-tinubu-is-rewriting-nigerias-health-story/