Salvage the 10th House’s Broken Promise: AdvoKC Urges Speaker Abbas to Pass the National Health Act Amendment Bill Before Another Recess

Luqman Adamu
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Press Release
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October 13, 2026

AdvoKC Foundation calls on the House of Representatives, under the leadership of Speaker Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, to take up and concur in the National Health Act (Amendment) Bill before the House adjourns for any further recess.

The Bill, seeks to (at least) double the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) share of the Consolidated Revenue Fund. The Senate passed its version on 23 April 2026, and since then, it has awaited the House's concurrence, with harmonisation and presidential assent still to follow.

The House last sat on 23 July. It resumed on 29 September after a 68-day annual recess, itself extended by two weeks for chamber rehabilitation, and then adjourned until 13 October. Members will have been away from plenary for almost twelve weeks when the House sits on 13 October. With the general elections only months away, the time left to complete these steps is shrinking quickly. If passed and assented to now, it can still shape the 2027 Appropriation.

The BHCPF was created under Section 11 of the National Health Act 2014 to finance basic healthcare, with half of the Fund channelled through health insurance for a basic package of services, 45% through the NPHCDA for essential drugs and primary healthcare needs, and 5% for emergency response.

Its performance record explains why the statutory share matters. According to a Federal Ministry of Health response to a Freedom of Information request, reported by ICIR, the Federal Government disbursed N32.88 billion under the Fund in the first half of 2025, or N16.44 billion in each of the first two quarters. The same response showed 1,164 facilities on the beneficiary list as only partly functional, roughly one in every seven. The House itself was alerted to the Fund's non-implementation in a motion on its order paper of 18 October 2023.

Doubling the statutory share is not a cure-all, and a higher percentage means little if funds are not appropriated and released on time. But a Fund set at the legal minimum, serving a primary healthcare network of this scale, has no margin for error. Raising the floor is the necessary first step. It gives the health system a larger and more predictable base, and it gives the House a clear benchmark against which to hold the executive accountable for release and performance. Most health spending in Nigeria is still paid by households out of pocket, and the primary health centre is the only point of care many Nigerians will ever reach.

AdvoKC calls on Speaker Abbas and the House leadership to:

  1. place the Bill on the order paper and take it up in the sittings that begin on 13 October, before any further adjournment;
  2. direct the Committee on Healthcare Services to conclude its work and report to plenary without delay;
  3. commit publicly to a timeline for concurrence and harmonisation with the Senate; and
  4. ensure that no recess begins while this Bill remains unattended.

"The Senate has done its part," said Habib Sheidu, Project Director, AdvoKC Foundation. "The question now is whether the House will treat primary healthcare as urgent business or as something that can wait for the next resumption. Nigerians in communities where the health centre is the only option cannot afford another adjournment without action. We are asking the Speaker to schedule this Bill and to tell Nigerians when it will be done."

AdvoKC advocated for the passage of this Bill in the Senate committee stage and is fully committed to see it passed, assented to, and implemented.

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