The Federal Government has partnered with the ICPC to strengthen accountability in primary healthcare upgrades.
Officials say the new agreement will monitor spending and improve transparency across nationwide rehabilitation projects.
The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has entered a multi-year agreement with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to strengthen accountability in the federal government’s ongoing overhaul of primary healthcare facilities.
Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, announced the development in a post on X on Sunday, explaining that the partnership is designed to ensure transparent monitoring, tracking, and auditing of all spending tied to the nationwide upgrade of health centres.
Pate said the government is carrying out a large-scale rehabilitation of primary healthcare centres across the 774 local government areas as part of wider sector reforms aimed at improving service delivery and ensuring that public funds are used efficiently.
Under the new arrangement, the ICPC will deliver real-time, stage-by-stage reports on the progress of revitalization projects supervised by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA). He noted that the commission’s independent confirmation will now serve as a required step before any project is certified as completed.
“In collaboration, the ministry and its parastatals have entered into a multi-year pact with the ICPC to monitor, track, and audit all expenditures involved in the nationwide overhaul of health infrastructure across every local government area,” the minister said.
To strengthen oversight at the local level, Pate revealed that hundreds of Performance and Financial Management Officers (PFMOs) have been deployed nationwide. These officers will provide continuous updates on both rehabilitation work and the day-to-day performance of primary health centres.
He added that the effort aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s recent commissioning of the National Health Fellows, a group of 774 young professionals, one from each local government area, trained to support the accountability framework now being rolled out across the sector.
According to Pate, the combined roles of the ICPC, the PFMOs, and the National Health Fellows reflect a renewed national push for transparency and integrity in health financing.
“This is our time to reclaim the nation we love, to reject what has held us back, and to affirm a new social contract grounded in integrity, renewed trust, and renewed hope,” he said.
