97% Staffing Failure: Obi Raises Alarm Over Nigeria’s Primary Healthcare Centres
97% Staffing Failure: Obi Raises Alarm Over Nigeria’s Primary Healthcare Centres
Nigeria’s primary healthcare system has come under renewed scrutiny following reports that 97 per cent of assessed Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) across 16 states failed to meet the national staffing standard.
Peter Obi, the 2027 presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), described the situation as a major threat to healthcare delivery, warning that the consequences could be particularly severe for pregnant women, children and millions of Nigerians living in rural and underserved communities.
Reacting to the findings, Obi expressed concern that the staffing crisis uncovered in the 16 states could provide a glimpse into the wider challenges confronting primary healthcare facilities across Nigeria.
He maintained that about 80 per cent of PHCs nationwide are not functioning effectively, arguing that a health facility without adequate doctors, nurses, midwives and other essential personnel cannot provide the basic services expected of it.
For Obi, the crisis goes beyond statistics, as shortages of health workers at the community level could translate into delayed treatment, preventable illnesses and avoidable deaths.
“Behind every understaffed PHC is a pregnant woman who might not receive timely care, and a child who could die from a preventable illness,” Obi said.
The former Anambra State governor argued that the strength of a country’s healthcare system should be regarded as an important measure of national development.
He questioned the emphasis placed on physical infrastructure projects when many Nigerians still struggle to obtain affordable and quality healthcare within their communities.
According to him, development should also be assessed by the number of functional healthcare centres, availability of trained medical personnel, quality of healthcare services and the number of lives protected through effective public policies.
Obi stressed that access to healthcare should not become a privilege available only to Nigerians who can afford expensive private medical services.
He called for increased investment in primary healthcare, alongside deliberate measures to recruit, train and retain health workers needed to keep PHCs operational across the country.
The concerns come as Nigeria continues efforts to strengthen primary healthcare through initiatives including the Basic Health Care Provision Fund. The National Primary Health Care Development Agency has set a target of achieving 17,600 fully functional PHC facilities nationwide, with at least one functional facility in every political ward by 2027.
Obi insisted that Nigeria must give greater priority to healthcare at the grassroots, where millions of citizens depend on PHCs as their first point of contact with the health system.
He maintained that meaningful national development would remain difficult if Nigerians continued to lose their lives to illnesses and medical conditions that functioning primary healthcare facilities should be able to prevent.
