President Bola Tinubu has given the green light for the establishment of the National Health Fellows Programme, aimed at engaging young Nigerian fellows from all 774 local government areas in the country.
The announcement was made by the presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, in a statement released on Monday. Ngelale highlighted that the initiative reflects President Tinubu’s commitment to enhancing primary healthcare services across Nigeria by upgrading existing centres and constructing over 8,800 new primary healthcare facilities nationwide.
According to Ngelale, the well-trained fellows will serve as fiduciary agents tasked with monitoring and tracking the development and performance of Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) across the country. This monitoring will be closely tied to financial accountability, ensuring that resources are effectively utilized.
The fellowship programme will be housed within the Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) coordination office under the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. Ngelale emphasized that the fellows will be recruited, remunerated, and equipped with the necessary tools to track the performance of health facilities supported by the Basic Health Care Provision Fund.
President Tinubu, who also serves as the African Union Champion for Human Resources in Healthcare, believes in the capabilities of young Nigerians and expects their engagement in this critical nation-building task to usher in a new era of high-quality healthcare service provision across Nigeria. The programme will also involve daily monitoring and tracking of health reforms in their respective locations.
