Abia Govt Charges Communities to Own PHCs, Inaugurates Health Oversight Team in Umuahia North

_Otti administration records 1.06m facility visits in 2025 as 151 PHCs become functional_

UMUAHIA, Abia State – The Abia State Government has charged communities to take ownership of Primary Healthcare Centres, PHCs, in their areas and protect them from vandals to sustain ongoing health sector reforms.

The Commissioner for Health, Prof. Enoch Ogbonnaya Uche, gave the charge on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, at the Umuahia North LGA headquarters during the inauguration of the Strategic Community Health Oversight Team, SCHOT, for Umuahia North.

Prof. Uche said Governor Alex Otti’s administration has prioritised healthcare through the construction, renovation, equipping and functionalisation of facilities across the state, noting that the success of the transformation depends on active community participation.

“Healthcare was beyond constructing buildings. A health facility is only important and useful if we can power the offering of healthcare service delivery to the people in that catchment,” he said.

He disclosed that Abia now has 277 PHCs across 184 wards, comprising 200 facilities under Project Ekweme and 77 renovated through the World Bank Impact Project. According to him, 151 are already functionalised while about 70 others are ready for equipment or functionalisation.

The Commissioner also revealed a significant rise in utilisation of government health facilities: from about 219,000 people in 2023 to 467,000 in 2024* and approximately 1,062,000 in 2025.

“As more facilities become ready, more people are going to those facilities,” he attributed to improved availability and quality of healthcare services.

Prof. Uche charged the newly inaugurated community oversight teams to monitor healthcare facilities, ensure the presence of health workers, protect equipment and report challenges through appropriate channels.

“We don’t want people to go to health centres and they don’t find health workers. We also don’t want the things that are installed in those health centres to develop wings,” he said, citing Amuzuoro PHC where the community provided part of a hall for conversion into a healthcare facility as an example of effective government-community partnership.

He also urged community leaders to sensitise residents on government’s healthcare financing programmes, particularly the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund which provides free healthcare for registered pregnant and nursing mothers, children under five and persons aged 70 and above.

He further highlighted the state’s formal-sector health insurance scheme for civil servants and their families, and disclosed the establishment of the Abia Healthcare Endowment Fund by Abians in the United States to support health insurance coverage for vulnerable residents.

The Abia State Consultant on Strategic Community Health Oversight, Prof. Kanu Enyinnaya Nkanginieme, said the initiative was designed to address poor absorptive capacity and poor utilisation of resources which had hindered development.

He explained that community leaders were selected because they are elected representatives responsible for ensuring resources deployed to their communities are used for intended purposes.

The oversight teams will work with community health and education committees, women and youth leaders, the LGA administration and the Ministry of Health to identify needs, monitor facilities and promote long-term planning.

Prof. Nkanginieme also urged leaders to promote enrolment in health insurance schemes and support school health programmes by linking primary schools with nearby PHCs, stressing that the initiative is about creating “emotional ownership” and a structured partnership between communities and government.

Responding, President-Generals of communities, including Chief Onwuasoanya Shedrack of Ameke Afarata Ibeku and Mr. Okechukwu Nkemka of Isingwu, thanked the Commissioner and pledged to take the messages to their communities while assuring support for the administration’s healthcare transformation agenda.

The highpoint of the event was the formal inauguration of President-Generals from communities in Umuahia North LGA as members of the Strategic Community Health Oversight Team.