Abuja (Min. of Health) – In the pursuit of President Muhammadu Buhari’s mandate for all sectors of governance in the roadmap to the “next level agenda, titled “Delivering on the Government’s Priorities 2019 – 2023,” which provides a strategic direction for the executive to be responsible for delivering on their sectors, the mandate on the priority area of Human Capital Development (HCD) is to improve Health, Education and Productivity of Nigerians.
To this end, the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire has unveiled the nine deliverable priorities in the Health sector for the next four years to ensure compliance with Mr. President’s directives. The directive states that all Ministers of the Federation are obliged to provide quarterly updates to the President. He said the priority areas have been signed and the clock had started ticking to enable the Ministries to deliver on their mandates.
Dr. Ehanire made this disclosure during the Ministry’s retreat organized to share the ‘next level agenda,’ 2019 – 2023, held at NAF Centre, Kado, Abuja recently. He explained that the retreat was organized to engage stakeholders as well as work out strategies of strengthening collaborations among Departments, Agencies, Paraststals (DAP) Federal Ministry of Health Parastatals, and programmes of Federal Ministry of Health to improve qualitative health care delivery in the country.
He enumerated the priority areas to include:- to Improve the Mandatory and Universal Health Insurance in collaboration with State Governments and FCT Administration; Operationalize the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) in collaboration with relevant Agencies an Partners; Recruit and deploy Community Health Extension Workers; Revamp Federal Teaching Hospitals across the country; Collaborate with Private Sector Investors to establish High Quality Hospitals in Nigeria; Reduce gaps in all Health-Related SDGs by at least 60 percent; Reduce current Imbalance between Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Health Care; Actively collaborate with the Private sector to create a large number of well-paying jobs or Nigerian youths, and Implement a strategy towards the realization of Mr. President’s June 12, promises to take 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next ten years.
The Minister further said that the draft document was shared to stakeholders for inputs before finalization of the document and it is now ready for distribution and reviewing by the stakeholders which is the main reason for the retreat.
Earlier, in his opening remarks, the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Adeleke Olorunnimbe Mamora informed that the Health Sector Next Level Agenda (HSNLA) (2019 – 2023) document spelt out the objectives, strategies and major activities needed to achieve the nine (9) key deliverables assigned to the health sector and measures to reduce Gap in all health related SDGs.
Dr. Mamora noted that the retreat was a very important forum for understanding the HSNLA document, identify some the contributions made and join the Ministerial Team for its effective implementation towards the achievement of this administration’s vision of building a prosperous economy.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. Abdulazizi Mashi Abdullahi informed that the Honorable Minister of Health inaugurated a Committee in September 2019 to develop the HSNLA 2019 – 2023. The document has been developed with inputs from all Stakeholders including Development Partners, Private Organisations and Civil Society Groups, the Permanent Secretary added.
He further said that the retreat is meant to share the developed HSNLA 2019 – 2023 to all the Stakeholders and secure buy-in for effective implementation; agree on common template and mechanism for timely reporting on indicators to the Honourable Minister for presentation at the Federal Executive (FEC) Meeting and Presidential Economic Advisory Committee (PEAC) Meeting; and to develop administrative guidelines as a basis for strengthening collaborations among the DAPs of the Ministry.
Enefaa Bob-Manuel
Head (Media & Public Relations)
