The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, has underscored the vital role of traditional institutions in strengthening collaboration with sub-national governments to support federal efforts in revitalizing Nigeria’s health sector.
In a broadcast address on Sunday, Pate highlighted the synergy between modern healthcare initiatives and the enduring influence of traditional leaders.
He described traditional institutions as custodians of Nigeria’s culture and heritage, serving as both a link to the past and a bridge to the future.
The Minister emphasized that traditional and religious leaders play a crucial role in shaping public perception, dispelling health-related myths, and mobilizing communities—functions essential to the success of health sector reforms.
According to Pate, under President Bola Tinubu’s leadership, the administration is committed to transforming the country’s primary healthcare system to improve accessibility and efficiency nationwide.
Pate detailed the government’s commitment to revitalizing primary healthcare centers, ensuring the full operation of facilities undergoing renovation, and enhancing immunization programs to combat communicable diseases such as polio and measles.
He stressed that the efforts are being implemented in close collaboration with States and Local Governments, with traditional institutions playing a key role in community outreach and advocacy.
The Minister recounted a recent quarterly meeting in December 2024, convened with traditional leaders from 19 northern States and led by the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Dr. Saad Abubakar.
Such engagements, he said, are instrumental in reviewing progress and ensuring that health reforms are domesticated within the local cultural context.
Pate also cited consultations with the Bauchi State Council of Traditional Leaders, which provided critical insights into the local impact of health initiatives, noting that the dialogues, including input from women leaders, are helping shape a tailored approach to addressing Nigeria’s healthcare challenges.
Central to the government’s strategy, he said, is the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, which focuses on strengthening primary health care, retraining frontline workers, and improving services for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health.
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The Minister highlighted programs such as immunization campaigns for polio, measles and HPV eradication and others, and initiatives aimed at reducing maternal mortality.
He noted that the programs benefit from the active participation of traditional leaders, whose grassroots mobilization has been pivotal in sustaining immunization efforts and other public health campaigns.
He also shed light on the government’s broader efforts to integrate various stakeholders in the health reform process, pointing out that regular engagement with traditional and religious leaders, along with State administrators, private sector representatives, and development partners, ensures that health policies are both effective and culturally resonant.
He referenced visits to key State figures, including the governors of Sokoto, Katsina, and Gombe, as well as interactions with the National President of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), adding that the interactions have helped align funding commitments and development plans across Federal, State, and local levels.
Moreover, the Minister emphasized that Nigeria’s complex Federal system necessitates a collaborative approach, where traditional leadership, civil society, and private stakeholders such as Aliko Dangote and Bill Gates work alongside government entities.
He said: “We consult women leaders as well who are also, by extension, part of that fabric of community leadership in our society.
“We’re working with the Royal Fathers on immunization campaigns to support polio eradication, as well as the implementation of new interventions that include the Maternal Mortality Reduction and Innovation Initiative (MAMI), that significantly upscales skilled birth attendance.
“We’re working on the Free Fistula Program for Fistula Repair in Vulnerable Women, expanding the nationwide free treatment for emergency obstetric services for poor Nigerian women who are in need, and the subsidies for those who require dialysis in some of our federal tertiary hospitals.
“All these efforts of the Federal government have to be rooted in a keen understanding of community demands, community needs, and informing our traditional leaders so that they are aware of what President Tinubu’s government, in collaboration with State and Local Government, is trying to do to improve the circumstances for millions of Nigerians who need medical care”.
Such cooperation, according to him, is critical to transforming the health sector into a robust system that meets the needs of millions of Nigerians.
He affirmed that the administration remains focused on revitalizing health facilities, upgrading diagnostic services, and training health workers to ensure that quality care is accessible to all, regardless of socioeconomic status.
Under President Tinubu’s leadership, he emphasized that these collaborative efforts aim to transform Nigeria’s health sector into a model of progressive, culturally grounded, and sustainable development, an ambition that would be challenging to achieve without the active participation of traditional leaders and other key stakeholders.