NEWS
Abia Tops South East at 2025 NGF PHC Leadership Challenge Awards, Clinches $500,000 Prize as Governor Otti Pledges to Raise the Bar
Abia State has emerged as the best performed State in the South East at the 2025 Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) Primary Healthcare (PHC) Leadership Challenge Awards Night, held on December 12 at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre, Abuja, securing a cash prize of USD 500,000.
The feat represents a remarkable improvement on the State’s 2024 outing, where Abia finished as runner-up to Anambra State and received a USD 400,000 prize, underscoring steady progress in healthcare governance and service delivery under the administration of Governor Alex Chioma Otti, OFR.
According to the organizers of the event, “the challenge is designed to periodically measure and benchmark progress by States across a set of PHC system indicators underpinned by a Performance Monitoring Framework (PMF), jointly developed by PHC stakeholders and endorsed by all States through their Honourable Commissioners for Health and Executive Secretaries.
“The PMF indicator domains address the key areas of the Seattle Commitments, governance and leadership, finance, quality of care, evidence, and sustainability. Following the signing of the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative (NHSRII) compact in 2023, the PMF was reviewed to include Presidential Indicators.”
Abia’s emergence ahead of other South East States reflects the significant investments and policy consistency in the health sector since Governor Otti assumed office. Notably, the State has consistently allocated 15 percent of its annual budget to health, aligning with global best practices and demonstrating strong political will toward universal health coverage.
Beyond the NGF recognition, Abia State has continued to attract national acclaim for preparedness and resilience in healthcare delivery. The State recently emerged as Nigeria’s most prepared State for health emergencies, topping the 2025 SBM Health Preparedness Index (HPI) with an impressive score of 26.85, further validating its leadership in health sector reforms.
Delivering remarks at the awards ceremony, Nigeria’s Vice President, Sen. President Kashim, represented by the Coordinating Minister of Health, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, CON, commended State Governments for increased funding of healthcare and for surpassing previous performance benchmarks. He emphasized that good health is foundational to development, explaining that wherever you see good health, it is an investment, while stressing that good health is not cheap.
He urged States to sustain and scale up investments in the health sector while ensuring affordability for citizens. Using a powerful illustration, the Minister noted that a healthy person may have one thousand wishes, but a sick person has one wish, which is good health.
Responding on behalf of the overall winner, Yobe State, as well as other zonal winners and runners-up, Governor Alex Otti offered a deeply philosophical reflection on healthcare spending, stating, “For us, we spend on healthcare, we don’t look at it as an investment because once you begin to look at it as an investment, the next thing you would begin to look at would be returns.
“So, we see the investment in healthcare as a necessary condition for people to survive in your State. Don’t look at it as money you are investing and tomorrow would yield returns. It is necessary for your people to be alive.”
Governor Otti further revealed that Abia’s performance was driven by commitment rather than competition, saying, “I was chatting with my brother Lawal (Zamfara State Governor) because some of the things we do, we don’t even remember that there is a challenge.
“So, we were not competing. But then, if you know what you are doing and you keep doing it, I think somebody must notice.”
With a light-hearted optimism, the Governor added, “And now that we know that there is a competition, I think we will raise the bar next year.”
He expressed profound gratitude to all partners and stakeholders who made the programme a success, thanking the Nigeria Governors Forum, development partners including the Gates Foundation, Aliko Dangote Foundation, World Bank, UNDP, UNICEF, as well as international and local partners, noting that the initiative would not have been possible without their collective support.
Concluding on a note of renewed commitment, Governor Otti said, “On behalf of the Yobe State Government and people who came 1st overall, on behalf of the 5 other States – Zamfara, Nasarawa, Osun, Rivers, and Abia State, I want to say that we are very grateful. And, we know that the reward for hard work is more work.
”We assure you that we are going to raise the bar.”
The awards night attracted a large gathering of stakeholders across the health sector, including government officials, development partners, policy experts, and healthcare professionals, all united in celebrating innovation, accountability, and excellence in Nigeria’s primary healthcare system.