By Reportcircle Abuja
Nigeria’s health sector took centre stage on Monday as the Federal Government declared that citizens not institutions will now sit at the heart of national health policymaking, setting a decisive tone for the 66th Regular Meeting of the National Council on Health (NCH) in Calabar, Cross River State.
Opening the Council’s Technical Session, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Daju Kachollom, mni, said the government is pushing a new era of equity-driven, innovation-led reforms anchored on the theme: “My Health, My Right: Accelerating Universal Health Coverage through Equity, Resilience and Innovation.”
Kachollom described the technical segment which precedes the high-level ministerial meeting as the “engine room” of the NCH, the space where policymakers interrogate data, debate evidence, and forge the recommendations that will shape Nigeria’s health priorities for the coming year.
She outlined sweeping federal reforms designed to steady a health system long weakened by funding gaps, workforce shortages, and declining public confidence. Among them:
strengthening primary healthcare foundations,
modernising supply-chain systems,
expanding digital health infrastructure, and
rolling out the newly approved National Health Workforce Migration Policy, aimed at managing the exodus of Nigerian health professionals.
According to her, these reforms mark a deliberate shift toward a citizen-centred, transparent, and resilient health structure.
“The agenda before this Council reflects our determination to build a system that is inclusive, efficient, and centred on the Nigerian citizen,” she said. “Our recommendations must be practical, cost-effective, and aligned with the Health Sector Strategic Blueprint 2023–2027.”
Kachollom also commended the Cross River State Government for hosting the 66th NCH and acknowledged the collaboration among state commissioners, federal agencies, donors, and development partners, an alliance she said was critical to “rebuilding trust” in public health leadership.
Welcoming delegates, the Cross River State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Henry Ayuk, said the gathering represented a strategic moment for Nigeria to accelerate progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
He framed equitable access to healthcare as both a development priority and a human rights obligation, warning that the choices made at the NCH will directly influence health outcomes, financial protection, and systemic fairness across all states.
“At this 66th NCH, we are challenged to ensure that healthcare becomes accessible to every Nigerian, where both the rich and the poor can receive care equally, and where the healthy can help strengthen the unhealthy,” he said.
Delegates from all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory including commissioners, permanent secretaries, federal directors, and senior technical advisers are participating in the ongoing technical reviews and memo deliberations that will shape national health reforms going into 2026 and beyond.
As deliberations continue, expectations are high that the Council will deliver decisions capable of lifting Nigeria’s health system out of chronic fragility and setting a new benchmark for citizen-focused governance.
