By Iyemah David
Nigeria’s Health Commissioners have reaffirmed their commitment to revitalising the country’s healthcare system through stronger primary healthcare, improved emergency preparedness, and strategic responses to emerging public health threats.
Chair of the Health Commissioners’ Forum and Commissioner for Health and Human Services in Ekiti State, Dr Oyebanji Filani, disclosed this in an interview on Thursday in Abuja.
He said the forum held its latest meeting from July 17 to 19, 2025, in Lagos, bringing together Commissioners from all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Dr Filani said the meeting focused on closing persistent health system gaps and advancing Nigeria’s health agenda.
“A key focus was the need to enhance health security at the state level.
“The commissioners commended the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for completing the Joint External Evaluation (JEE) in 13 states and urged its expansion nationwide,” he said.
He noted that the forum advocated for the establishment of Public Health Emergency Operations Centres (PHEOCs) in all Local Government Areas, as well as isolation centres in every state.
“States were also encouraged to set up dedicated emergency funds insulated from end-of-year budget sweeps.
“There is a critical need for proactive planning, not just reactive responses, to outbreaks,” he stressed.
He said the commissioners expressed concern over the slow onboarding of states to the National Emergency Medical Services and Ambulance System (NEMSAS).
He said they pledged to strengthen collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and the National Emergency Medical Treatment Committee (NEMTC) to improve access to emergency care across the country.
Dr Filani also commended the administration of President Bola Tinubu for ongoing progress under the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) and the IMPACT programmes, which he said had significantly improved primary healthcare delivery.
Reviewing the national health scorecard, he highlighted improvements recorded between May 2023 and May 2025 in maternal and child health indicators.
“These include increased uptake of IPTp3 among pregnant women, higher rates of skilled birth attendance, and better treatment coverage for childhood diarrhoea.”
He said the forum adopted new strategies to consolidate the gains.
He also revealed that the “Project Ten Million: Know Your Number, Control Your Number” campaign had screened millions of Nigerians for hypertension and diabetes.
Data from the campaign, he said, would strengthen non-communicable disease (NCD) surveillance and inform cross-sectoral interventions.
In anticipation of Nigeria hosting the 5th Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in 2026, Filani said the forum renewed its commitment to combating AMR through collaboration with stakeholders across government, academia, and civil society.
“To address the rising cost of essential medicines, the forum adopted a group purchasing framework developed in partnership with Drug Management Agencies, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Group of the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN), and supported by ARC_ESM.
“States were urged to establish Drug Management Agencies to enable pooled procurement and improve access to affordable, quality-assured medicines.” he said.
He added that the forum also prioritised capacity building, especially in health financing.
“A specialised training for Health Commissioners is scheduled for October 2025, aimed at strengthening financial governance and leadership.”
Filani called for stronger collaboration across federal, state, and local levels to address Nigeria’s most urgent health challenges.
“We are committed to building a resilient health system that meets the needs of all Nigerians,” he said.
