The Federal Government has announced the approval of the inclusion of civil society organisations in the technical working groups across all states, a mechanism put in place to ensure accountable implementation of the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF).
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, disclosed this while delivering a remark at a two-day retreat on a validation workshop on the assessment of Nigeria’s commitments to the health and well-being of women, children, & adolescents and the development of a collaborative advocacy action plan in Nigeria.
The retreat, which was organised by Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN) in partnership with Education as a Vaccine and Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescent Health, aimed at examining the commitments made by the government and producing a Collaborative Advocacy Action Plan (CAAP) for Nigeria.
Pate, who was represented by his Chief of Staff and the National Coordinator of the Sector-Wide Approach, Dr Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq, explained that the inclusion of CSOs is targeted at providing an inclusive space for them to contribute meaningfully to policy planning, interventions, and implementation.
He also expressed optimism that having everyone onboard is important in galvanising ideas, directed at the fast-tracking government’s drive to reverse maternal and death figures, as well as open up improved access to healthcare services for adolescents and the elderly at the basic healthcare levels.
“I think one of the important and unique approaches that we are incorporating is really a principle around inclusivity so that, in practice, we see that we are vigilant.
“Today, the announcement and the approval by the Minister to include CSOs as part of TWG, particularly for the states, is an important first step in that direction so that there’s both an institutional and policy mechanism for the perspective of an impact of the CSOs in terms of policy planning and also intervention and implementation.”
Also, the Coordinator of AHBN, Dr Aminu Magashi, while appreciating the government’s decision to recognise the critical role of CSOs, maintained that sustained engagement of the Minister of Health and other relevant ministers, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), among others, is critical to realising set objectives.
Magashi added that this is the gateway that CSOs are pushing to see that the government takes recommendations for their actions, and the government also approved CSOs’ participation in the technical working groups of the sectoral approach.
“The states advisory group of the TWG is cross-cutting, and I’m happy to be invited to participate in that advisory group to advise both the federal and state governments on how to improve services in Nigeria.”
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