By Iliya Kure
Kano State House of Assembly, in northern Nigeria has passed into law the Kano State Health Trust Fund Bill (KHETFUND) to generate over N2.5b annually, and ensure sustainable financing of its health sector.
Kano, the second most populous State in Nigeria is inhabited by about 15 million people.
Available information to AFRICA PRIME NEWS says, the Trust Fund is to financed through a monthly 5% deduction of the money generated from taxation, and 1% monthly from statutory allocation to the 44 LGAs of state.
Celebrating the passage of the Bill, Executive Director of an NGO, Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR), Dr. Aminu Magashi, who said the process was wholly owned by the legislature, expressed joy that his organisation was invited by the Legislative House to offer technical support in the development of the process through a letter by Clerk of the house.
“CHR support to this process was not funded by any of its projects funded by local and/or international development partners, and at no point anywhere in this process that donors’ names were mentioned or their funds were used,”
In a statement, CHR says, “We will now shift our technical support and advocacy for the Executive Governor of Kano State Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje to assent the law and another series of TA to the State Ministry of Health in developing guidelines and ownership for its implementation and for its capturing in the 2018 budget process.”