Why food bank initiative was conceived as NPHCDA revitalises 4,113 PHCs, says Chief

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has revitalized at least 4,113 primary health centers nationwide, disbursing over ₦70 billion between 2023 and 2025 through the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund to strengthen service delivery, expand access to essential care, and improve outcomes for vulnerable populations.

This comes as the agency outlined the necessity for the new Food Bank initiative designed to cushion the impact of rising food insecurity on at-risk groups.

The programme, initiated by First Lady Oluremi Tinubu, was launched with ₦66 billion and targets pregnant women and young children, using primary health centres as entry points to identify beneficiaries.

Speaking at the first quarter 2026 media briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, the Executive Director (ED) of the agency, Muyi Aina, said the initiative responds to growing economic pressures affecting households.

“There are lots of families in Nigeria today that are challenged; just getting the nutritious food that you need is a challenge for a myriad of reasons,” he said, citing insecurity, unemployment and economic constraints.

He explained that the programme prioritises early childhood and maternal nutrition due to its long-term implications.

“Who are the people most affected, by starvation? It is young children, because that is the stage where your brain is growing,” he said.

Highlighting the importance of early nutrition, he added, “Your brain development begins before you are born,” noting that maternal health directly impacts a child’s cognitive development and future potential.

Aina said beneficiaries would be identified through professional screening at primary health centres.

“It takes a health worker to objectively determine that this person is malnourished, and that is why the screening and identification will be at the primary health centre,” he said, adding that eligible individuals would receive vouchers redeemable for pre-packaged nutritional support, alongside follow-up care.

On the broader intervention, Aina said efforts to revitalise primary healthcare are central to reforms aimed at repositioning the sector as the foundation of Nigeria’s health system.

He noted that investments have focused on infrastructure, workforce support, medical supplies and community-based programmes to improve functionality and responsiveness.

Explaining the structure of healthcare delivery, he said services are organised into tiers to ensure efficiency and appropriate referrals.

“There are levels of care and responsibility for a reason. There is the primary healthcare system, which gives you access to basic routine services that are not complicated. There are secondary facilities, and then you have specialist, tertiary, even quaternary healthcare services,” he said.

According to him, primary healthcare centres remain the backbone of routine service delivery, particularly for preventive interventions such as immunisation, while more complex cases are escalated to higher-level facilities.

Aina said improved financing through the BHCPF has been central to strengthening service delivery.

“And between 2023 and 2025, not counting what’s already been released this year, ₦70.6 billion in all was released through the BHCPF," he said.

He explained that the funds support facility operations and improve service readiness at the grassroots, adding that the number of benefiting facilities has increased significantly.

“One is increasing the number of what we call BHCPF-supported facilities from 8,309 to 13,512,” he said.

He also said funding allocations have been reviewed upward to reflect service demand.

“Every facility used to get ₦300,750 per quarter. Now we have two tiers. The high-volume facilities are getting ₦800,000 per quarter. The low-volume facilities are getting ₦600,000,” he said.

Aina said strengthening financial oversight at the facility level remains a priority, noting that performance and financial management officers have been deployed across all 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs).

“We have deployed what we call performance and financial management officers (PFMOs). There are 774 of them, one per local government,” he said.

He explained that the officers validate expenditures and monitor fund utilisation, adding that the system has helped recover mismanaged funds.

“In the second half of last year, the PFMOs were able to recover about 59.95 million Naira of money that had been misspent or unaccounted for in facilities,” he said.

He added that sanctions are applied where necessary, with erring officials required to refund funds and, in some cases, reassigned or dismissed.

Aina also said the agency is introducing digital tools to improve transparency, noting that a financial management app is being rolled out across primary healthcare centres and is already active in 14 states.

On vaccine effectiveness, the ED said, “They prevent diseases,” while urging collaboration between families and health providers to protect individuals who cannot be vaccinated.

Under the Maternal and Newborn Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMI), 223,784 pregnant women have been enrolled and tracked across selected states, with the programme now active in 33 states.

Data comparing the first quarter of 2026 with the same period in 2025 shows a 15.3 percent rise in antenatal care attendance and a 31 percent increase in skilled deliveries in MAMI-supported areas, Aina added, attributing this to improved tracking, risk profiling and referral systems.

To support safer births, over 111,000 women have received “Mama Kits”, while emergency maternal services, including cesarean sections, are provided free under government programmes.

He noted that the interventions are still limited to selected areas, with nationwide service data being compiled.

Read Also: NPHCDA unveils reforms to strengthen PHCs, reach 2.1m zero-dose children

Aina also addressed the role of partnerships and donations in strengthening the sector, calling for recognition of contributions that support public good.

He referenced initiatives linked to First Lady Oluremi Tinubu, noting that such efforts complement government interventions.

“If somebody chooses to invest her resources in the public good, I think we need to give her some credit for that,” he said, adding that attracting donor funding reflects institutional capacity.

On accountability, he said while the government is strengthening monitoring systems, citizens also have a role to play.

“Government has a role, but as citizens, we also have a role in striving to do the right thing. Don’t steal it,” he said.

Aina added that reforms are beginning to yield measurable results, including improvements in facility functionality, service utilisation and workforce morale.

He described 2026 as a consolidation phase for ongoing reforms under the administration of President Bola Tinubu, with a focus on achieving measurable impact and strengthening access, equity and public trust in the healthcare system.