Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, has said states would need more funding to address the brain drain in the health sector and curb the rapid migration of medical personnel.
Tambuwal stated this on Tuesday, during an interactive panel session with the theme: “Universal Coverage and the Basic Healthcare Funds,” organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, NESG, in Abuja.
He said the allocation of one percent from Consolidated Revenue Funds, may not be enough for states, adding that an increase to about two or three percent would go a long way in addressing many issues like underfunding.
According to him, “The challenge we face as states, is first funding and secondly human resource. We’ve been witnessing recently, a very drastic movement or drain of our brains out of this country to where they can attain greener pastures. We have to work hard to improve the welfare and packages of our medical personnel to address the brain drain.
“But funding has remained a constraint and the basic health care provision fund that has come to the rescue of the PSCs is doing well. But most governors believe that if you can make it a performance-based kind of support it will be better. If we make it performance based, it will go a long way in ensuring the program succeeds.
“Since the Basic Health Care Producing Fund Act says at least one percent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund should be allocated annually, we can rely on that provision that says at least one, and maybe increase it to two, three percent? That is of course the solution to the constraint of funding.
“We are going to present it at the next National Economic Council meeting to be presided over by the Vice President, where the Minister of Finance will be in attendance and all the state governors are expected to be in attendance. The consensus of both the Governors and NEC, I believe will come into force.”
On insecurity, he said it was a collective effort and that the Federal government along with the states were doing their best to stem the tide.
In the same vein, Secretary of the Oversight Committee of the Federal Ministry of Health for BHCPF, Dr Chris Isokpunwu, said an “accountability framework” would help in showing transparency when funds have been disbursed to states, adding that the process of developing a framework, has begun already.
He said, “Accountability is our major focus and we have even mobilised resources for that. One step that we are taking for accountability, is that the fund is audited as at when due, secondly every disbursement we make to states are published in the national newspapers and in our social media platforms, so that the people will know that the monies have been disbursed to the states.
“We are also working with civil society organisations to ensure that they follow and independently verify implementation at the state level. Right now because of lack of awareness, funds are also being mobilised to create awareness, let the people know that the basic health care provision fund is actually functional in the health care centre that is closest to them.
“We have actually begun the process of developing a robust accountability framework. The basic health care provision fund in many states is less than a year. We will begin to see the impact of our health outcome as we increase the number of beneficiaries and as the health facilities begin to deliver quality health service.”
Isokpunwu maintained that it is estimated that there are about 86-100 million Nigerians as beneficiaries of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, BHCPF.
“Based on the available statistics the numbers may have changed, we estimate for now that there are at least 86 million Nigerians that are beneficiaries, some say that there are over a 100 million Nigerians.
“And each of our beneficiaries will pay N12,000 per annum for now. If we have to get 86 million people on board at 12,000, that’s approximately a trillion Naira including the cost of operations. And this is done per annum, because the premium we pay for each of our beneficiaries is for one year, and so every year we have to pay for those beneficiaries until they are taken out of poverty.
“We must not forget that the whole essence of this is to reduce the out-of-pocket expenses for Nigerians. Most people pay a lot on health from their income, if they are able to save that, they are already on their way out of poverty,” he stated.