Nigerian Governors: How 36 States Grew Health Sector Budget by 30% to N2.36tn in 2025

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman AbdulRazaaq, has explained how the 36 governors in the country moved the health sector financing to N2.36 trillion, representing 30 percent of their budgets.
The chairman of the governors’ forum spoke at the annual Primary Health Care (PHC) Leadership event held on Friday night in Abuja.
Represented by the Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, the Kwara State governor said the 36 states increased health sector budgets from N831 billion in 2022 to N927 billion in 2023, N1.4 trillion in 2024, and N2.36 trillion in 2025, representing a 30 per cent increase.

According to him, these states allocated their annual budgets to Primary Health Care and have also begun to see reductions in institutional maternal mortality, reflecting the impact of these investments.
Additionally, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum has introduced a series of scorecards to track State commitments and promote accountability across key health initiatives.

”I am also pleased to announce that an expanded scorecard to track subnational commitments to the Health Sector Renewal Compact will be released in 2026, to enable us—as Governors—to monitor and uphold the commitments we have made transparently.

Looking ahead, we reaffirm our dedication to the aspirations of the Seattle Declaration. The progress we have made through the PHC Leadership Challenge affirms that these commitments are not mere declarations but responsibilities we continue to pursue with diligence and focus—so that every Nigerian, regardless of location or circumstance, can access quality Primary Health Care.”

Also speaking was the Executive Secretary of the Primary Health Care Agency, Muyi Aina, who commended the state governors for increasing health sector budgets.

Aina said that the agency had disbursed over N53 billion to 36 states and local governments of the federation.

The Executive Secretary said the agency has disbursed N52.5 billion across 8,309 PHCs since 2023, including N14.01 billion in Q1 and Q2 2025 alone.

Aina disclosed that the Q3 disbursement with the revised amount was in progress.

He explained further that there is a ”Tiered direct funding of N800,000 and N600,000 to PHCs, quarterly, based on utilisation, Expanded DFF PHCs with an additional 5,212 from the current 8,309, making a total of 13,521 PHCs.”

The executive secretary said that the agency deployed the PHC-Financial Management System App for tracking of funds utilization – scale up in seven early adopter states.

According to Aina, the Frontline Health Workers Training, which is the lifeblood of PHCs, comprises 72,887 trained frontline health workers, with about 4,119 currently being trained in five states, out of the 120,000 four-year target.

Accordingly, he said, this resulted in ”Crashing Maternal and Newborn Deaths (MAMII Initiative) with a recorded 22.5 per cent increase in ANC attendance in Q3 2025 alone and Linkage of 54,755 of them to PHCs for antenatal care as well as distributing 16 essential maternal and neonatal health commodities to 10 states, across 968 PHCs, targeting 1.2million pregnant women.”

Meanwhile, Yobe State has emerged as the overall best performer in the 2025 Primary Healthcare Leadership Challenge, earning a $1.2 million prize.

Yobe State emerged as the winner at the prestigious Award Night held in Abuja from Friday night to the early hours of yesterday, securing a grand prize of $700,000 in recognition of its exceptional commitment to advancing primary healthcare services across the state.

In addition to this top award, Yobe also claimed the Zonal Best Performing State accolade for the North-east, which included an additional $500,000 prize.  When the two awards are combined, the state’s total winnings amount to $1.2 million.

Other states that won the Zonal Best Performing State awards included Nasarawa for North-central, Zamfara for North-west, Abia for South-east, Rivers for South-south, and Osun for South-west. These states demonstrated strong performances within their respective regions.

The runners-up in each zone were Gombe (North-east), Kwara (North-central), Kaduna (North-west), Anambra (South-east), Bayelsa (South-south), and Ogun (South-west), each recognised for their notable efforts in strengthening primary healthcare systems.