KMC was first introduced to Nigeria in the late 1990s through a resident pediatrician at the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital. A training workshop was held with doctors and nurses from 16 teaching hospitals across the country. In Nigeria, Kangaroo Mother Care as a method for caring for small babies was systematically reintroduced in Kano and Zamfara through the ACCESS/USAID program in 2007. KMC was incorporated in the Integrated Maternal Newborn and Child Health (IMNCH) strategy of the FMOH in 2007. KMC was also included in the integrated Facility‐Based Newborn Care package developed by the FMOH in 2014. The FMOH in the Situation Analysis and Action Plan for Newborn Health in 2011 committed to create a budget line that included the creation of six zonal KMC centers as part of the comprehensive newborn care strategy to achieve the MDGs. However, as at 2017 this had not been achieved.

NA

In 2018, Kwara Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, announced the State Health Insurance Scheme (KHIS) which builds off the CHIS. The governor said that the state government had set aside an initial N200 million for its take-off. He added that the government had also committed to contributing one percent of its annual Consolidated Revenue Fund and to subsidise premiums and service delivery to those considered part of the poorest in the society. Furthermore, Mr Ahmed said the government will boost the scheme with 40 percent of funds received through the “Saving One Million Lives Performance for Results Initiative”, a programme of the Federal Ministry of Health supported by the World Bank and targeted at improving maternal and child health in Nigeria.

In a 2014 news article, a Traditional ruler of Nome Unateze, Nkanu East Council of Enugu state, pointed out that the free maternal and child health care being run by the state government had eluded his community as the service was not available in the area. In response, a member of the State Assembly and chairman, House Committee on health, said that the state government had begun the employment of 150 midwives and additional 20 doctors to be posted to the rural areas. He also stressed that patronage of the program was low and that one council had recorded eight percent of attendants so far.

The project was implemented in 3 phases starting with 6 pilot states (1 per geopolitical zone). Initially it covered 6 LGAs per state except Bayelsa where it covered all the 7 LGAs. It was scaled up to 12 states in the 2nd and final phases of the project when additional states were included. Although Ekiti was later included but implementation did not commence before the program ended. The project was funded from Debt Relief Gains through the Presidential MDGs Office. Phase one was funded with 5 billion Naira (about US$33 million) while phase two was funded at 4.25 billion Naira (about US$28 million). The project was managed at state levels by State Implementation Committee (state officials and NHIS technical staff). The plan was for the federal government to contribute 60% while states were expected to contribute 40% counterpart funds to cover the project costs.