Vice-President Kashim Shettima has announced plans by the Federal Government to recruit and pay 100,000 community health workers by 2027 to improve access to primary healthcare services nationwide.
He made the disclosure on Thursday in Abuja during the Continental High-Level Forum on a Fit-for-Purpose Health Workforce, where he unveiled the Community Health Programme Continental Acceleration Plan 2026–2030.
The continental initiative seeks to expand Africa’s community health workforce by deploying two million workers across the continent by 2030.
Shettima said the Federal Government was working towards establishing a system that guarantees community health workers legal recognition, professional certification, regular remuneration and opportunities for career advancement.
He described the workers as essential to healthcare delivery, particularly in preventing disease outbreaks, identifying health risks and saving lives at the grassroots.
The Vice-President’s position was contained in a statement issued on Thursday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Stanley Nkwocha, titled, ‘Guaranteed Legal Rights, Reliable Salaries for Community Health Workers In Sight, Says VP Shettima.’
Shettima acknowledged the challenges facing healthcare financing globally, noting that international funding was declining while 85 per cent of African Union member states relied significantly on donor support for community health programmes.
He said Nigeria had recognised the need to strengthen its workforce, pointing out that the country was yet to meet the projected requirement of 315,000 community health workers by 2030.
“This is why President Tinubu’s Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative has secured over $2.2bn in commitments, with programmes to revitalise over 17,000 primary health centres and train 120,000 frontline workers. Our goal is 100,000 salaried community health workers by 2027,” Shettima said.
He warned against overlooking the contributions of community health personnel, stressing that their presence in rural and underserved communities could determine whether people receive timely treatment or lose their lives.
Our Community Health Programme Continental Acceleration Plan focuses on governance, primary care integration, workforce development, digital systems, service delivery, financing, supplies and accountability as drivers of our future, a future where workers are guaranteed legal recognition, certification, dependable salaries, supervision and careers,” he declared.
The Vice-President said governments across Africa had a responsibility to ensure that access to healthcare was not determined by geographical location.
He said the ultimate objective was to bridge the gap between communities and essential health services “until no African’s chance of living depends on the accident of where they were born.”
Shettima also highlighted President Bola Tinubu’s role in advancing healthcare financing and workforce development across Africa through his position as African Union Champion for Human Resources for Health and Community Health Delivery Partnership.
He recalled that Nigeria’s Ministers of Health and Finance had represented the President at a meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in February to advance the continental agenda.
Reflecting on the Abuja Declaration, which committed African countries to allocating at least 15 per cent of their national budgets to healthcare 25 years ago, Shettima said Nigeria must address the number of households still without adequate access to health services.
“We cannot afford the luxury of taking our community health workers for granted. We have survived the storms of a world threatened by diseases because they recognise maternal danger, because they find unvaccinated children, because they gather household data and, very importantly, because they detect outbreaks,” Shettima said.
He explained that the continental plan would prioritise equipping health personnel, ensuring steady supplies of medical commodities, encouraging community participation and establishing integrated digital health registries managed by African countries.
According to him, the programme’s ambitious implementation framework would require approximately $28bn between now and 2030, with more than 80 per cent allocated to recurring expenditure.
The initiative is also projected to generate $19 in economic and social benefits for every dollar invested.
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These returns will be measured in healthier communities and lives saved. But they depend on sustained financing. Every country must therefore commit to one nationally owned plan, one budget and one monitoring framework,” he said.
Earlier, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, commended President Tinubu for approving Nigeria’s hosting of the high-level meeting.
He described the forum as an important development for the future of community healthcare across Africa.
Salako said the administration’s ongoing health interventions demonstrated Tinubu’s commitment to his responsibilities as the African Union Champion for Human Resources for Health.
He added that the 2026–2030 Acceleration Plan was consistent with the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly its objectives of improving disease surveillance and strengthening community resilience.
The minister assured participants that Nigeria would continue working towards achieving the continent-wide target.
Also speaking, Egypt’s Deputy Minister of Health for Population and Family Development, Dr Abla Al-Alfi, stressed the importance of improving primary healthcare systems and strengthening the capacity of community health workers to address maternal and family health challenges.
She disclosed that Egypt was partnering with its Ministries of Social Solidarity and Youth to increase public health awareness and prevent avoidable maternal deaths.
“Our success depends on optimising primary healthcare and focusing on community health workers, who are essential for raising health awareness among mothers and families,” she said.
The Deputy Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Raji Tajudeen, called on African governments to demonstrate stronger political commitment to community-based healthcare.
He noted that the continent had achieved only about half of its 2016 target for deploying two million community health workers by 2030.
Tajudeen identified repeated infectious disease outbreaks, reduced international development funding and poor operational capacity at primary healthcare facilities as major challenges affecting progress.
He recalled that the African Union Assembly, in 2025, called for renewed political commitment, resulting in the appointment of President Tinubu as the continental champion for human resources for health and community health delivery.
The AU official also praised Nigeria’s efforts in strengthening primary healthcare and its response to a recent Ebola incident.
“Let me congratulate Nigeria for the excellent work you have done in primary healthcare, community health systems and universal health coverage, and your excellent response to the Ebola outbreak and how you have contained it. We have so much to learn from Nigeria,” Tajudeen said.