By Stella Odueme
The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, has called on local and international investors to embrace sustainable financing models for the electrification of Nigeria’s healthcare facilities, describing the sector as one of the most compelling investment opportunities on the African continent.
He made the call while speaking at the National Healthcare Electrification Investor Matchmaking Forum, held under the Nigeria Power for Health Initiative (NPHI) at the Lagos Civic Centre, Victoria Island.
The forum, convened by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in collaboration with UK PACT and hosted by the Minister of State for Health, Dr Isiaq Salako brought together representatives of Federal and State Governments, Chief Medical Directors, Development Partners and Private Sector Leaders.
In his remarks, Tegbe commended the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare for convening the engagement, noting that reliable electricity is not merely an infrastructure requirement but a fundamental pillar of healthcare delivery.
He disclosed that he has been a key stakeholder in the NPHI since its inception, even before his appointment as Minister of Power, describing the initiative as a personal commitment and reaffirmed his support on the Honorable Minister of State (Health).
He stated that the objectives of the NPHI align with the ongoing Power Sector Reforms and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
He noted that the initiative offers an opportunity to integrate energy planning into health infrastructure development, deploy grid enhancement and renewable hybrid systems tailored to health facilities, and strengthen coordination between power sector institutions, health authorities, regulators, and private sector partners.
Highlighting the scale of the opportunity, Minister Tegbe pointed to over 35,000 registered health facilities across primary, secondary, and tertiary levels nationwide, describing this as a substantial pipeline of bankable projects capable of attracting local and international capital into solar mini-grids, hybrid energy systems, battery storage, energy efficiency technologies, smart metering, facility energy management platforms, operations and maintenance services, and climate-resilient infrastructure.
