Connected Development (CODE) and BudgIT, civil society organizations (CSOs) have called on the federal government to seek sustainable funding for primary health care systems in Nigeria. The CSOs made the call at a meeting to drive accountability in healthcare organized by BudgIT with support from the Conrad Hilton Foundation and the Skoll Foundation in Abuja. The meeting that was part of the implementation activities of the second phase of the Transparency and Accountability Project (CTAP) COVID-19 had the objective of tracking all the funds and donations made in support of the intervention of the Federal Government COVID-19. BudgIT Deputy Manager Iyanuoluwa Bolarinwa, speaking on "Strengthening Great Partnerships for Accountability," the group in the course of their work noted that most primary health care facilities need a facelift. “These centers are the first point of call for an average Nigerian where they go first to access care before they can be referred to general hospitals. “So when you go on your first call and it's not well equipped, it doesn't put you in an advantageous position, it slows you down more. “Therefore, we recommend that the centers be renovated and we also hope that the federal government can put more funds into research and development. “At the end of the day, we also need to understand that without proper research, we will only be absorbing what has been concluded in the other climates. "We need to be able to put our foot down as the giant of Africa that we are." Bolarinwa also called for more investment in the health sector and the need to implement the Abuja declaration by committing 15 percent of the budget to health care. He urged the government to address the problem of brain drain of personnel to stay in the country serving the citizens. Also speaking, Mr. Hamza Lawal, Founder of Follow the Money and Executive Director of CODE, said that the COVID-19 pandemic showed that Nigeria's fiscal responsibility mechanism was not that strong. Lawal said the group has started monitoring the N38 billion raised at the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID), a private sector-led organization set up to help the government fight the coronavirus disease. “Today, we are having an important conversation with civil society and media partners to galvanize action around COVID-19. “This time, however, we are more focused on how Nigeria and Africa can prepare for the next pandemic because COVID-19 has literally brought us to our knees. “We want to make sure that, first, we can establish a fiscally responsible framework, second, we can also invest in primary health care because we know that the centers play a fundamental role when we experience a pandemic. '' Lawal added that the goal of the group's work was also to educate citizens about COVID-19 and encourage them to get vaccinated. This, he said, was because many citizens were not taking the hits due to mistrust, misinformation and disinformation. “I think this conversation with the media and civil society partners would help set the pace for how we can get involved, how we can get the necessary funding and investment for primary health care facilities. "It will set the pace for how Nigeria can lead other African countries to prepare for another pandemic because another pandemic is just around the corner," he said. Mr. Busayo Morakinyo, Director of Community Participation of CODE, evaluated the performance of the intervention of the Federal Government in the Primary Health Centers (PHC). “The Finding the Money initiative in communities indicated that most centers were below the minimum standard of primary health care. “The findings also revealed that lacking electricity, 30 percent of PHCs do not have access to clean water. “ Interviews with some of the indigenous people in the community show that they depend on rainwater and well water stored in tanks. "Fifty-six of the 90 PHCs evaluated have the recommended pharmaceutical refrigerator to house vaccines, while some of the PHCs received less than 10 vials of the Covid-19 vaccine." Morakinyo said that NPHCDA recently outlined plans for the transformation of PHCs to provide services aligned with the basic needs of the community, link people to PHC services, maintain and transmit records. However, he said that most of the things on the ground that were observed in the course of the report did not reflect the plan. The Nigerian News Agency reports that Dr. Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), had testified at a different event to the fact that the infrastructure and staff poor were hampering PHC's operations. Shuaib had therefore said that the Agency had plans to transform the centers.