On the second day of the official visit to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 21st January 2020, the Secretary-General, along with his delegation, met with the Honourable Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, H.E. Ambassador Zubairu Dada at the Foreign Ministry in order to sign the Headquarters Agreement of the D-8 Health and Social Protection Programme Office in Nigeria and discuss the means of boosting cooperation in the health sector. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the diplomatic missions of D-8 Member States in Abuja and officials from the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria.

The meeting commenced with the opening remarks of the Hon’ble Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and the D-8 Secretary-General. In his statement, the Hon’ble Minister expressed the importance of forging cooperation in the health sector in order to scale up healthcare delivery, improve healthcare outcome and reduce poverty and inequality. He added that cooperation in the area of health will bring the desired growth that will facilitate structural transformation of economies of Member States. Furthermore, he reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to the success of this initiative as well as the country’s willingness to collaborate with other Member States and other stakeholders in order to increase access to affordable healthcare and social protection.

In his statement, the D-8 Secretary-General, on behalf of the D-8 Secretariat, expressed his profound gratitude to the Government and good people of Nigeria for their unflinching support to the ideals and visions of the leaders of the D-8 Organization. He also mentioned that the signing of the Headquarters Agreement is historic as it marks a watershed in the history of D-8 Organization by broadening its operational mandate into health and social protection. In this regard, he added that the launching of the D-8 Health and Social Protection (HSP) Programme is designed to accelerate progress especially in the context of SDGs 1, 2, and 3 which are critical indicators of living standards. Furthermore, the Secretary-General said that the HSP Programme hopes to unlock the market potential in health trade amongst Member States from which resources will be leveraged to fund the key intervention pillars of health, nutrition and poverty, namely access to essential health services, improving the quality of care, governance and human resource for health, preventing non communicable diseases and providing social protection.

During the meeting, the Permanent Secretary of Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health, H.E. Alhaji Abdulaziz Mashi Abdullahi also opined that there is no better way to fast track development than investing in the people. Hence, coupling health and poverty alleviation. He expressed the hope that D-8 cooperation will support the ongoing efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s healthcare delivery system.

At the end of the meeting, gifts were exchanged and questions from the media were answered.

Statement of Secretary-General on the Signing of HQ Agreement of Health Office

Statement of Minister of State for Foreign Affairs on the Signing of HQ Agreement of Health Office

HSP HQ Agreement