GOVERNOR Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State has outlined reforms undertaken in the state’s healthcare sector, with a focus on strengthening primary healthcare delivery since assuming office in 2019.
The governor spoke as a panellist alongside Microsoft Co-founder Bill Gates at the 2025 Goalkeepers event hosted by the Gates Foundation in Lagos on Wednesday.
Yahaya highlighted increased immunisation coverage, wider access to care, and improved infrastructure as key markers of progress.
“Today, immunisation coverage has improved to around 50 percent, and access to primary healthcare has risen to between 40 and 45 percent. In addition, we now have the required infrastructure across the health sector,” Yahaya said.
He noted that the impact is already visible in reduced maternal and child mortality rates, better staff performance, and enhanced service delivery.
“The resultant effect is not just in increased attendance, but also in improved maternal and child healthcare, as well as reduced mortality rates. The operations of the primary health centres have also improved — absenteeism has significantly declined, and the staff are well motivated, performing even beyond our expectations,” he said.
The governor noted that these achievements were the result of deliberate efforts made early in his tenure to strengthen human capital through healthcare and education reforms.
“When I became governor in 2019, my promises to the people were mostly tied to human capital development because we were performing low in the indices around that,” he explained.
“As such, I realised that going through the primary healthcare route would help me achieve a lot in a short time. I had to work with the indices I found and utilise them effectively to encourage health workers and the system to align with the aspirations of the people.
“Attendance in primary healthcare facilities was just about 50 to 53 percent. Immunisation coverage stood at only 18 percent, and budgetary releases for health expenditure were as low as 3.5 percent,” he said.
The governor revealed that access to secondary healthcare was even more limited, with over 90 per cent of the population unable to access basic services easily.
“We had to take bold decisions. Otherwise, I would not have achieved my goals of reaching the people, building hope in them, and inspiring them to follow me as their leader,” he said.
