It is a unique honour and privilege to address this gathering of esteemed stakeholders at this crucial dialogue, which brings together the health and power sectors in a bid to lay a strong foundation and take progressive steps towards achieving energy sufficiency and sustainable electrification of our public and private healthcare facilities in Nigeria.
Since assuming office as the Honourable Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare about a year ago, I have undertaken working visits to many of our Federal Tertiary Health Institutions across different geopolitical zones of the country. I have also engaged with heads of health facilities at sub-national levels and in the private sector. These familiarisation visits and interactions have exposed me directly to the challenges faced by our health institutions—one of the most critical being deficits in electricity supply and the huge energy costs they bear monthly. This finding aligns with a survey conducted by BudgIT, in which health workers identified access to reliable electricity as the second leading barrier to improved healthcare delivery in Nigeria.
Our health system is not only underpowered, but also inefficiently powered. A 2021 survey conducted by *Sustainable Energy for All* revealed that 40% of functional Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) in Nigeria lack access to electricity, while the majority of the remaining 60% receive no more than 10 hours of daily supply from various sources. A rapid assessment conducted earlier this year shows that Federal Tertiary Health Institutions require between 3–8 MW of energy to function optimally. However, these institutions currently receive an average of 5.3 hours of daily electricity from the national grid, with an installed backup capacity of 0.8–3.3 MW (representing about 50% backup deficiency), of which 80% is generated through diesel engines. Consequently, hospitals spend between ₦20 million and ₦180 million monthly on power, with 20–50% of their operating expenses going into fuel purchases. The private sector fares no better, as a 2025 Healthcare Federation of Nigeria survey revealed that 30% of respondents spend between ₦5 million and ₦20 million monthly on electricity.
Findings have also shown limited coordination between energy and health sector actors, leading to multiple electrification datasets and duplication of interventions.
This scenario has resulted in sub-optimal healthcare delivery, reduced access to care, compromised treatment quality, and poor health outcomes. Services have been disrupted, public health compromised, Nigerians subjected to hardship, and lives lost due to poor electricity supply. In summary, energy supply has become a major disruptor of healthcare delivery in Nigeria. It is now an emergency that must be addressed if ongoing reforms and investments in the health sector are to achieve their desired results.
Let me be clear: in solving this power challenge in our health facilities, we are not starting from ground zero. The Federal Government has risen to this task through several initiatives, including ongoing efforts to electrify selected PHCs. The Ministry of Power, through agencies like the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), has deployed 100 containerised solar hybrid systems to healthcare facilities nationwide. The Energizing Education Programme is also benefiting teaching hospitals such as the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital and the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital. Additionally, the European Union (EU) has launched the Nigeria Solar for Health Programme (NISHP), aimed at providing 24/7 power supply to 45 healthcare facilities across five states. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has equally introduced solar power solutions in northern Nigeria, demonstrating how renewable energy can guarantee stable operations for medical devices and cold chains, even under challenging conditions.
These initiatives prove that the transition to greener energy in our health sector is not a distant dream but a tangible reality with measurable benefits. They provide models for replication and scaling across the country.
Despite this progress, the Nigerian health system continues to face significant energy challenges, with frequent reports of outages and prolonged blackouts in hospitals. Current efforts are not happening at the scale or pace required. This situation calls for a collaborative, whole-of-government approach, as the challenges extend beyond the health sector alone.
In the face of dwindling overseas development assistance and limited public sector funding, mobilising social impact investments and innovative private sector financing has become imperative. At the same time, we must address concerns around environmental impacts, fire incidents, battery malfunctions, and other operational challenges that have been observed in some alternative energy projects within health institutions.
We can no longer afford business as usual. Patients are dissatisfied, services disrupted, and energy bills in hospitals have reached unsustainable levels. It is time for all stakeholders to take collective action to address the limiting effects of energy poverty on healthcare delivery and relieve hospitals of prohibitive energy costs.
Energy is the lifeblood of modern healthcare. From powering essential equipment and maintaining vaccine cold chains to ensuring adequate lighting for emergency services and creating a safe, comfortable environment for staff and patients, uninterrupted power supply is non-negotiable. Without reliable electricity, we cannot significantly improve our National Health Facility Quality of Care Score. Our ongoing reforms—whether enhancing quality of service, digitalising operations, strengthening the healthcare value chain, or ensuring health security—cannot be optimised without guaranteed, efficient, affordable, and safe power supply.
It is for this reason that, in March this year, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare inaugurated a multi-stakeholder expert committee cutting across government, private sector, development partners, civil society, and service providers. The committee has six objectives:
* Assess the power policy environment against the urgent needs of health facilities, drawing lessons from other LMICs.
* Gather field experiences and elicit best practices.
* Identify renewable energy options, backup systems, and energy-efficient solutions.
* Strengthen public-private partnerships for power in health facilities.
* Build consensus on frameworks, funding mechanisms, and sustainability strategies.
* Develop a collaborative action plan for implementation and monitoring.
Today, this committee is delivering one of its major milestones—this National Stakeholders Dialogue. I warmly welcome every speaker, panelist, investor, policymaker, and practitioner to this important engagement. Over the next two days, we expect to leapfrog into the development of a national collaborative action plan to address the power challenge constraining healthcare delivery.
This dialogue is a testament to the Federal Government’s collaborative spirit and reflects President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commitment that Nigerians must have access to affordable, quality healthcare as part of the Renewed Hope Agenda. We must forge a path forward, leveraging innovation, experience, collaboration, and strategic investment to ensure every health facility in Nigeria is adequately powered.
The Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative—our operationalisation of the Renewed Hope Agenda—is moving steadily in the right direction to transform healthcare. The challenges are many, but they are being correctly diagnosed and addressed collaboratively to ensure collective ownership. A key expected outcome of this dialogue is the signing of a compact for the sustainable electrification of public and private healthcare facilities—a documented shared vision for this journey. The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, in collaboration with the Ministry of Power and other stakeholders, is committed to ensuring this dialogue does not end as mere talk.
The scale of this undertaking requires significant and sustainable financing. While upfront costs for renewable installations are high, the long-term savings, efficiency, and health outcomes justify the investment. In these two days, we must develop practical financing models that will attract capital and ensure sustainability. I call on our partners—World Bank, European Union, impact investors, capital market players, philanthropists, and foundations—to step forward and support this initiative.
Let me also appreciate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, whose unmatched political will and commitment are steadily putting Nigeria on the path to universal health coverage. His leadership—through increased funding, executive orders, innovative initiatives, and ground-breaking pronouncements—has placed healthcare squarely at the centre of the Renewed Hope Agenda.
I must also commend the Honourable Minister of Power for his commitment to intersectoral collaboration, as well as federal agencies, state governments, private sector players, and development partners who are part of this coalition. Together, we can build a framework for coordination, implementation, and impact that will energise Nigeria’s health sector and serve our people better.
And so with peace and plenty, Nigeria shall be blessed.
Thank you for your attention.
