Governor of Kano State Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, on Thursday, assented to the Kano State Health Trust Fund Law (KHETFUND).

The much awaited KHETFUND was passed into law by the state assembly on July 11, 2017.

The Governor said it is to fulfil his commitment to assent the law this week during his council meeting at the end of a closed door meeting that ended at the early hours of Monday, with his Commissioner of Health Dr Kabir Ibrahim Getso and Dr Aminu Magashi the Chair Board of Trustees of Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR).

According to a statement by Magashi, who is also the Coordinator and Founder of Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN) and Civil Societies Representative, Global Financing Facility (GFF) Investors Group, the Kano State Health Trust Fund Bill had witnessed overwhelming majority votes at the floor of the house on Tuesday July 11, 2017.

He said the law will ensure sustainable financing of the health sector in the state to be funded as proposed via a monthly 5% deduction of the total revenue generated from taxation and 1% monthly from total statutory allocation to the 44 LGAs of state.

“It is estimated that despite the economic recession, this fund will generate at least N2.5b yearly to the health sector,” Magashi added.

CHR had led a successful, rigorous and back to back 10 months advocacy and technical support upon a formal written invitation by the Kano State Legislative Assembly to develop and pass the bill in to law.

Kano State located in Northern Nigeria has over 15 million population (the size of many African countries) and the most populous state with the highest number of federal constituencies.