Citizens Participation and Primary Healthcare Policy Implementation in Ogun State, Nigeria: An Empirical and Systems Enquiry

Health in its complete state of wellbeing is of utmost importance in the achievement, development and sustainability of societal goals, as envisioned in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, and joint efforts are required for its attainment. Studies have focused on the importance of citizen participation in diverse fields, including health care, but little attention has been paid to this in developing countries’ primary healthcare (PHC) systems, such as Nigeria. Thus, this paper seeks to ascertain the relationship between citizens’ participation and primary healthcare policy implementation challenges in Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey research design was adopted with a multi-stage sampling technique used to select 500 Ogun State citizens. Primary data were analyzed using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation to ascertain the relationship between the variables. Findings show that there is a significant positive and strong relationship between citizens’ participation and policy implementation (R-value: 0.696; p-value: 0.000), but there is no significant relationship between citizens’ participation challenges and PHC policy implementation (R-value: -0.105; p-value: 0.120). The study is premised on the political system theory that explains citizens’ participation with a holistic and integrated approach of involvement, empowerment and accountability in the healthcare system. The study, therefore, recommends an integrated decision-making process that is bottom-up, which would support a sustainable healthcare system with enlightened citizens’ input towards the actualization of an effective PHC system.