Gombe State has won a $400,000 prize for its strong leadership in healthcare governance and service delivery at the 2025 Primary Health Care (PHC) Leadership Challenge. The state came second in the North-East geopolitical zone.
The award was presented to the Gombe State delegation at the 2025 PHC Leadership Challenge Awards Night, held at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja. The event was chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
In a statement obtained by The News Chronicle on Saturday, the media aide to the Gombe State Governor, Isma’ila Uba Misilli, said the award confirms the state’s consistent commitment to improving its primary healthcare system.
Gombe State also achieved a similar feat last year, when it won the PHC Leadership Challenge Innovation Award, finishing second in the region and receiving the same $400,000 prize.
The PHC Leadership Challenge is organised by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), UNICEF, the Gates Foundation, and the Aliko Dangote Foundation.
The initiative is designed to encourage states to strengthen their primary healthcare systems by improving governance, funding, service quality, sustainability, and overall health outcomes, in line with the Seattle Declaration adopted by all 36 state governors in 2019.
Vice President Shettima, who was represented by the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, congratulated Gombe State and other winners. He praised governors for their leadership, noting that it has led to major progress in health programmes across the country.
He also reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to strengthening the health sector, adding that plans are underway to increase health funding under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
The Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, said the challenge was created to promote healthy competition among states for the benefit of Nigerians.
Gombe State Deputy Governor, Manassah Daniel Jatau, who represented Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya at the event, expressed happiness over the award and the financial reward. He said the achievement reflects the state’s deliberate and sustained investments in the health sector.
According to the statement, Governor Yahaya has prioritised healthcare since assuming office in 2019, starting with the declaration of a state of emergency on health.
This led to the renovation and upgrade of at least one fully functional primary healthcare centre in each of the state’s 114 wards, with several wards now having two or more centres.
Secondary healthcare facilities were also upgraded, alongside reforms that included the establishment of key health agencies and continuous investment in infrastructure and manpower.
These efforts have improved health outcomes and expanded access to quality healthcare services, positioning Gombe State as a model for achieving Universal Health Coverage in Nigeria.
