The Federal Government has concluded the review of the operational guidelines for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) and is set to commence an audit of fund disbursements for the year 2024 by mid-July.
This was made known during the 11th meeting of the BHCPF Ministerial Oversight Committee (MOC) held in Abuja.
Speaking during the meeting, the Secretary of the Committee, Dr Oritseweyimi Ogbe, explained that the revised BHCPF Guidelines (Version 2.0) received provisional approval during the first quarter of the year and would soon be formally unveiled after consultations with the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate.
Ogbe stated that the financial audits for the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years had been concluded across the four implementation gateways, both at the national and sub-national levels. He added that the draft audit reports are being finalised by the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation, with a close-out meeting planned thereafter.
The BHCPF, established under the National Health Act of 2014 and operational since 2019, serves as a critical mechanism for financing primary healthcare services across the country. So far, over ₦159.2 billion has been disbursed through the fund.
However, the disbursement for the first and second quarters of 2025 remains pending. Ogbe attributed the delay to initial release bottlenecks and adjustments in signatories within the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS).
He further revealed that a memo is being prepared to clear the backlog, while the BHCPF Secretariat is working closely with Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) units to align programme tracking with the National Health Sector Reform Implementation Initiative (NHSRII).
To enhance transparency and citizen engagement, Ogbe said the MOC Secretariat is collaborating with the Ministry’s ICT Department to establish a dedicated section for BHCPF updates on the Federal Ministry of Health’s website.
He listed the next line of action to include the finalisation and dissemination of the audit reports for 2022 and 2023, as well as enhanced tracking of performance indicators under the HOPE-linked Primary Health Care Delivery Framework.
The Federal Government reiterated its commitment to ensuring effective utilisation of the BHCPF to improve access to quality healthcare for Nigerians, particularly those in rural and underserved communities.
Discover more from Rootedscope Media
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
