 I think the Federal Ministry of Health and the National Family Healthcare Development Agency deserve our commendation for providing this very important platform, for providing this very important platform for rethinking primary healthcare in Nigeria, especially in the wake and aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic was an eye-opener for me in at least five important respects. The first is that a health challenge of sufficient enormity can cripple the global economy and severely worsen the circumstances of the weakest economies and most vulnerable groups. And we saw this happening with global growth in negative territory for months, even a year, massive supply chain disruptions leading to inflation, and millions more going into unemployment and extreme poverty, all on account of a sincere enough health challenge. The second is how some of the wealthiest and most developed economies in the world were tragically unprepared to handle a public health crisis on the scale and uncertainty of COVID-19, whereas countries with more modest economic profiles quickly developed a public health framework, especially at the primary level, that was responsive and effective, which emphasizes that smart and effective management of healthcare is probably as important if not more important than just availability of resources. The third is that when there is a global health crisis on the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot expect any or much help from anyone. Every nation is in such times on its own. The vaccine nationalism first responds to the distribution of vaccines was certainly a wake up for poorer countries. Happily things have improved with the greater availability of vaccines, and we must of course commend those countries that have made very general donations to African countries and other developed economies. The need for more effective health security plans since what we saw with the vaccine nationalism has since occupied the thoughts of leaders at national, sub-regional and regional levels, and there is, as we heard, cheering news about the preferment of our country, of vaccine production in our own region. The other is that despite infrastructural weaknesses, we have an experienced and robust public health system in Nigeria, people by some of the best personnel in the world, and you heard Dr. Faisal, and you heard Dr. Faisal a few moments ago bragging about how we maintain 56% in routine immunization even during the pandemic. The fifth is a conclusion from the preceding point, and this is that a health system is only as strong as its primary health system. No matter how robust we want a health system to be, it can only be as strong as our primary health system, and this is true either in dealing with infected patients in a pandemic or effective vaccination program, especially in popular countries, but it is especially the case that because of the preventive focus of primary health care, any investment in health care is a wise investment in the social and economic well-being of society. Since invariably fewer people will be ill and thus not require the more expensive, especially scare. So this year, and today especially, as we mark about four decades of the anniversary of the Alma Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care, I think it's appropriate that we should reflect on the state of primary health care in Nigeria, and we've heard a lot already, especially tracking the progress in some of the key components of primary health care, especially public education, nutrition, clean water and sanitation, maternal and child health care, immunization, local disease control, accessible treatment, and drug provision. We've heard already of some of the very exceptional problems that have been made in the provision of some of these components. The basic health care fund, we've heard already, seeking to address the cost of health care for the poor, the freshly designed primary health care facilities that are to have steady water supply, solar power, staff water, perimeter fencing, and even in some areas in the hinterland, the care care and pet mini ambulances. Also, the federal government of Nigeria's COVID-19 response measures, and these measures were considered, including the health sector component of the economic sustainability plan, the establishment of the healthcare sector intervention fund, which disbursed somewhere in the order of 80 billion naira to finance the acquisition and installation of critical medical equipment, and the expansion of production lines in some pharmaceutical companies. They are also the worst initiatives, especially the clean Nigeria use the toilet campaign, led by the federal minister of water resources. Then the extensive work of the national council on nutrition and the food systems galons, and the special initiative on large scale food fortification, such as the food processing and nutrition leadership forum, led by Alagi Aliko Dangoti. I think it was on March the 10th that that forum was held, and of course with very effective local participation as well. However, I think it's evident, and we've heard from practically every speaker that has come forward today, that a lot more needs to be done. And permit me just three trends of thought very quickly, as we re-emerging primary healthcare in Nigeria. The first of course is dealing with out-of-pocket expenses. And I think we clearly need composite health insurance, where premiums for certain categories of vulnerable groups are paid by government. And the only minister of finance has already said that our target is 100% coverage for the poor and vulnerable in the short to medium term. There is no way that healthcare funding can be paid by government budgets alone. It's simply impossible. The size of the federal government budget itself is so constrained that there is absolutely no way that we can expect to fund healthcare by just budgets. And so healthcare insurance is an important pool of resources for funding healthcare on the scale that would be required for a country of 200 million people or more. The second is addressing some of the drawbacks occasioned by the concurrent constitutional status of primary healthcare. There's a great need for synergies to prevent a situation where the federal, state governments and local governments and private persons duplicate primary healthcare facilities. And there is no real planning around what should be where. The first is encouraging and supporting serious private sector interventions. And two examples come to mind. We've heard one already, which is they adopt a primary health facility program, pioneered by Mr. Idemokwede's ABC Health in collaboration with Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria, which was also founded again by Aliko Dangote, Mr. Idemokwede and Jimovia. Their goal, as we've heard, is to establish a chain of primary healthcare centers across Nigeria in all of the 774 local government areas and apply market bills reforms to provide low cost health services at decent standards for the poor and the vulnerable. And I think this is an important initiative. And we will see that it will bring in some of the private sector efficiencies into primary healthcare delivery. The other is the EHA clinics. This operates mainly in Kano and Bautistae for now, led by Dr. Hananiya. And it has a program, which is called the REACH program, which has brought effective healthcare to over 11,000 people in Kano state alone. The effort leverages on partnerships with non-governmental organizations and pharmaceutical companies. They negotiate treatment prices so that costs of drugs will be affordable for the vulnerable, for the poor and the vulnerable. And they also train community health attention workers to provide affordable healthcare to people in those communities. So, aside from the funds that the private sector will bring to the task, they would also bring important models of efficiency and cost-taving driven by market ideas and all that. On the 27th of January, 2022, Mr. President inaugurated the Healthcare Reform Committee, a robustly constituted committee with representation from the states, healthcare professionals, healthcare-related professional groups and associations, and medical academia, and so many other groups. The primary objective is to re-engineer our healthcare delivery system, so that it becomes, in the President's own words, people-centric, modern, and viral. A healthcare system that addresses the depressing health indices frontally. I was asked to chair that committee by Mr. President, and since then I've interacted with a broad range of institutions and individuals. And it's evident that there's a great deal of excitement and expectations about what is possible. And we're expecting the next few months to see some progress in redesigning our healthcare system with so many of the great ideas that we've already had. Finally, let me again commend the Honourable Minister of State, the Honourable Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Henry, whose openness to ideas and innovation, and his own personal commitment, has advanced his cause of healthcare in Nigeria. He is the very able and supporting colleague, the very experienced and knowledgeable Dr. Long Nibbe Mamura, and of course, Dr. Faisal Shuai, the dynamic hard-working and innovative EDCO of the MPH CDA and his team. It is now my very special pleasure and privilege to formally declare open the Primary Healthcare Summit 2022. Thank you very much.