Niger Strengthens Healthcare Delivery Through Sustainable Access To Medicines

The administration of His Excellency, Governor Mohammed Umar Bago, continues to demonstrate its commitment to transforming the healthcare sector and improving the quality of life of the residents of the state through strategic investments, strengthened institutions and improved access to essential healthcare services.

At the heart of this transformation is the commitment to ensuring that residents of Niger State have access to quality, affordable and readily available medicines, medical supplies and healthcare commodities.

In line with the New Niger Agenda, the Niger State Drug and Hospital Consumables Management Agency (NSDHCMA) have continued to strengthen its operations and supply-chain systems to support healthcare facilities across the State.

Established by law and mandated to warehouse, supply and distribute medicines and health commodities, the Agency plays a critical role in ensuring the availability, accessibility and affordability of essential medicines, public health commodities and hospital consumables across Niger State.

Supporting Government’s Healthcare Transformation Agenda

A major demonstration of the commitment of the Bago Administration to strengthening healthcare infrastructure and service delivery was the inauguration of 2,000 hospital beds, alongside large quantities of wheelchairs and malaria commodities, at the premises of NSDHCMA on the 6th of August 2026.

The commissioning, performed by the Deputy Governor of Niger State, Comrade Yakubu Garba, represents another significant step in the State Government’s efforts to strengthen healthcare facilities and improve the capacity of the health system to respond effectively to the needs of the people.

The intervention further underscores the strategic role of NSDHCMA as a key institution in the State’s healthcare supply chain, ensuring that critical health commodities are properly received, warehoused and distributed to healthcare facilities across the State.

Speaking during the commissioning ceremony, the Executive Director of NSDHCMA, Dr. Umar Ndagi, expressed appreciation to the State Government for its continued confidence and support to the Agency.

He noted that the Agency remains committed to delivering on its mandate of ensuring the availability, accessibility and affordability of essential medicines, public health commodities and hospital consumables to residents of Niger State.

According to him, the responsibility extends beyond simply receiving commodities, as the Agency ensures that medicines, syringes, bandages, hospital beds and other healthcare commodities are warehoused in accordance with best practices before distribution to healthcare facilities across the State.

 Expanding Healthcare Commodity Coverage

NSDHCMA currently supplies approximately 90 percent of drugs and health commodity needs of the 24 General Hospitals in Niger State, in addition to supporting over 400 Primary Healthcare Facilities and the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida Specialists Hospital (IBB Specialist Hospital), a tertiary healthcare facility.

This extensive coverage demonstrates the Agency’s growing contribution to the State Government’s efforts to bring quality healthcare closer to the people, particularly at the primary and secondary healthcare levels.

The availability of essential medicines and hospital consumables is fundamental to an effective health system and Universal health coverage.

Strengthening the supply chain, the State Government is creating an enabling environment for healthcare professionals to provide quality services while reducing challenges associated with shortages of essential health commodities.

Strengthening Maternal and Child Healthcare

child health, NSDHCMA has also sustained the availability of essential MNCH commodities through its partnership with Axmed International under the Matching Fund Initiative.

The intervention has supported the procurement of critical commodities, including Misoprostol, Oxytocin, Carbetocin, TranexamicAcid, Azithromycin, ORS and Dexamethasone.

These interventions complement the broader healthcare reforms of the Bago Administration aimed at improving health outcomes and ensuring that essential commodities reach the facilities where they are needed most.

 Supporting Primary Healthcare Facilities

The Agency has continued to deepen collaboration with the Niger State Primary Health Care Development Agency through the Joint Coordination Committee, established to strengthen coordination, accountability, onboarding of PHC facilities and feedback mechanisms within the health commodity supply chain.

NSDHCMA in collaboration with IMPACT has also supported the distribution of healthcare commodities to 274 focal Primary Healthcare Facilities to improve their baseline revolving fund by reducing out of stock syndrome and bringing essential health commodities closer to vulnerable members of the population.

Quality Assurance and Protection Against Counterfeit MedicinesRecognizing that availability of medicines must go hand-in-hand with quality and safety, the Agency continues to strengthen its quality assurance systems.

Recently, two Pharmacists in NSDHCMA participated in a workshop on Test and Stock against Counterfeit Medicines, designed to improve the capacity of pharmacists to identify, document, quarantine and report suspected counterfeit and substandard medicines. Sequel to this, the agency has recently procured simple medicine – testing machine and test pack to support the preliminary analysis of medicine and other pharmaceutical products before they are dispatched to health facilities.

This initiative will enable the Agency to conduct basic quality checks at the point of supply, helping to identify substandard, unsuitable, or potentially compromised products before distribution.

The initiative further demonstrate the Agency’s commitment to ensure the quality, safety, efficacy, and integrity of medicine supplied to health facilities across Niger State, thereby contributing to improved patient safety and healthcare delivery.

The Agency has also participated in pharmacovigilance activities with NAFDAC and other stakeholders, with emphasis on strengthening adverse drugs reaction reporting and the capacity of technical personnel across the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Driving Efficiency through Strategic Procurement in another move aimed at improving efficiency and value for money, NSDHCMA has been fully onboarded into the Group Purchasing Framework for pooled procurement of Primary Healthcare commodities across State Drugs Management Agencies in Nigeria.

The framework provides an opportunity to aggregate demand, strengthen purchasing power, improve product quality and consistency, enhance supply-chain predictability and contribute to cost savings.

A Stronger Supply Chain for a New Niger beyond procurement and distribution, NSDHCMA also produces hygiene commodities, including methylated spirit, antiseptic, disinfectant, multipurpose liquid soap and bar soap, which are supplied to healthcare facilities across the State.

These interventions collectively reinforce the vision of a stronger, more responsive and sustainable healthcare system, consistent with the development priorities of the New Niger Agenda.

The Agency’s expanding reach, strengthened partnerships and improved commodity management systems demonstrate the commitment of the Niger State Government to ensuring that healthcare facilities are adequately supported to serve the people.