Connected Development (CODE), a leading non-profit organisation advancing social accountability and citizen participation in governance, has launched a new project to track the recently approved ₦32.9bn Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) disbursement, with a focus on funds routed through the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) gateway for strengthening health security in Nigeria.
The project, titled Tracking BHCPF NCDC Gateway Funds for Strengthening Health Security in Nigeria, also known as Project Track – BHCPF, is an analysis and capstone initiative of the Global Health Advocacy Incubator, supported by Resolve To Save Lives. It is led by Hyeladzira James Mshelia and Abdulazeez Abdulmalik Hussaini and is designed to improve transparency, accountability, and domestic financing for epidemic preparedness and response in the country.
The BHCPF remains Nigeria’s primary domestic financing mechanism for strengthening the health system. Within the fund’s structure, the NCDC gateway is the only channel that directly supports disease surveillance, outbreak response, laboratory systems, and emergency coordination. However, despite the rollout of BHCPF 2.0 by the Federal Government in October 2025 to strengthen accountability and performance expectations, public visibility around NCDC gateway disbursements and utilisation has remained limited.
Nigeria’s epidemic preparedness and response capacity depends largely on sustained domestic financing for health security. While government commitments to increase domestic health funding have grown, transparent and accessible utilisation data has not kept pace. This gap has weakened performance assessment, limited learning, and constrained evidence-based advocacy on health security investments.
Project Track – BHCPF seeks to address these accountability and evidence gaps that continue to undermine effective epidemic preparedness. Through the initiative, CODE aims to generate actionable evidence within a six-month period running from January to June 2026. The findings are expected to support improved oversight, informed policy engagement, and sustained investment in health security, particularly as the ₦32.9bn BHCPF disbursement begins to flow through implementation channels.
The project will apply CODE’s established #FollowTheMoney accountability methodology. This will combine Freedom of Information requests, reviews of relevant policies and guidelines, analysis of administrative data, and a focused sub-national case study to assess preparedness outcomes linked to NCDC gateway funding. The approach is intended to provide independent evidence on how allocated funds are released, utilised, and aligned with preparedness objectives.
Advocacy under Project Track – BHCPF will include the production of policy briefs aligned with national budget and oversight cycles. CODE will also engage oversight bodies and key decision-makers through structured consultations, alongside strategic media engagement aimed at strengthening public accountability and citizen awareness around health security financing.
Strategic stakeholders identified for the project include the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, the Ministerial Oversight Committee on BHCPF, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, State Ministries of Health and Emergency Operations Centres, as well as civil society organisations and media partners. These engagements are expected to support collaboration, feedback, and policy learning.
The project is designed to deliver measurable outcomes, including improved transparency around NCDC gateway disbursements, independent evidence to support oversight and performance assessment, stronger data-driven advocacy for domestic health security financing, and a replicable accountability framework for tracking health security investments.
“This is a timely response to the critical need for transparency and accountability in how domestic resources for epidemic preparedness are utilised, and also strengthening health security is not only about funding, but about accountability and learning,” said Hyeladzira James Mshelia, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Connected Development.
With Project Track – BHCPF, Connected Development says it is reinforcing its commitment to transparency, accountability, and citizen-driven oversight in Nigeria’s health sector, while working to ensure that domestic health security financing translates into measurable preparedness and resilience outcomes nationwide.
About Connected Development (CODE)
Connected Development (CODE) is a Civil Society Organization founded in 2012 with a vision to create a world where the rights of all people are upheld and protected. CODE’s mission focuses on advancing innovative solutions for the sustainable development of marginalized and vulnerable groups through transparency, accountability, and gender equality in the protection of their political, socio-economic, and environmental rights. Over the past 13 years, CODE has worked in over 500 communities, impacting more than 10 million lives through 618 campaigns across 36 states.
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