The Federal Government has intensified efforts to attract private sector investment into the healthcare sector as part of plans to ensure reliable, affordable and sustainable electricity supply for health facilities nationwide.
Speaking at the National Healthcare Electrification Investor Matchmaking Forum held in Lagos on Monday, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, said access to stable electricity remains critical to improving healthcare delivery and achieving better health outcomes across the country.
The forum, organised under the Nigeria Power for Health Initiative (NPHI), brought together stakeholders from the health, power, finance, climate and development sectors to explore investment opportunities aimed at addressing energy challenges facing healthcare facilities.
Dr. Salako noted that inadequate and unreliable power supply continue to hinder the effective delivery of healthcare services, affecting surgical procedures, vaccine storage, diagnostic services, oxygen systems, emergency response operations and digital health solutions.
He stressed that electricity is more than a utility, describing it as a key driver of quality healthcare delivery and a vital component of the Federal Government’s healthcare transformation agenda.
According to the Minister, the Nigeria Power for Health Initiative, approved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was established to serve as the national platform for driving healthcare electrification across the country.
He explained that the initiative adopts an innovative Energy-as-a-Service model, which allows private Energy Service Providers to finance, deploy, operate and maintain energy infrastructure while healthcare institutions focus on delivering medical services.
The Minister said the model is designed to promote sustainability, improve accountability and create predictable revenue streams for investors.
Although the current phase targeted Federal Tertiary Health Institutions, Dr. Salako said the initiative is structured to eventually support primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities in both the public and private sectors nationwide.
To boost investor confidence, he highlighted the governance structure already put in place, including an Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee, a 24-member Inter-Agency Technical Committee, Facility Energy Management Teams and a dedicated Project Secretariat within the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
The Minister further disclosed that the initiative is pursuing a blended financing strategy that combines government funding, development finance, climate finance, concessional capital and private investment to facilitate large-scale deployment of sustainable energy solutions.
He commended the United Kingdom Partnership for Accelerating Climate Transition (UK PACT) and Landell Mills International for supporting the development and implementation framework of the initiative.
Calling on banks, development finance institutions, infrastructure funds, climate financiers, impact investors and energy developers to participate, Dr. Salako described healthcare electrification as a major opportunity at the intersection of health security, climate resilience, economic growth and sustainable infrastructure development.
He urged stakeholders to move beyond discussions and forge practical partnerships capable of delivering reliable electricity to healthcare facilities across Nigeria.
Reaffirming government support for investors, the Minister assured participants that the Federal Government would continue to provide the necessary policy backing and enabling environment to ensure the success of healthcare electrification projects nationwide.
