Key points
- The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, urged local and international investors to back sustainable financing for powering healthcare centers.
- Over 35,000 registered primary, secondary, and tertiary health facilities nationwide offer a vast pipeline of bankable solar projects.
- Government officials described the initiative as a major shift away from donor-reliant funding to a commercial service-based model.
- Energy companies will use the Electricity Act framework to set up power purchase agreements and secure local operating licenses.
- The national program is already actively deploying solar mini-grids and hybrid battery storage systems to public hospitals.
Main Story
The Minister of Power, Mr. Joseph Tegbe, has called on local and international financiers to adopt sustainable investment models to help bring reliable electricity to healthcare facilities across the country.
In an official statement released on Tuesday in Abuja by the ministry’s press director, Mr. Clement Ezeorah, Tegbe made the appeal during his address at the National Healthcare Electrification Investor Matchmaking Forum in Lagos. The high-level gathering, organized under the Nigeria Power for Health Initiative (NPHI), brought together federal and state officials, hospital directors, development partners, and private sector leaders to build commercial partnerships for clean energy.
Tegbe highlighted that Nigeria possesses more than 35,000 registered primary, secondary, and tertiary health facilities nationwide, representing a substantial pipeline of bankable projects ready for private capital. He stated that this massive market offers clear opportunities for investors to deploy solar mini-grids, hybrid energy systems, battery storage, and energy-efficiency technologies.
The power minister noted that the framework is built on the country’s recent electricity reforms, which provide the legal foundation to structure long-term power purchase agreements, license local mini-grid operators, and encourage state-level participation. He added that the ministry is already actively involved, having deployed solar systems to several health facilities under a World Bank-funded electrification project.
The initiative marks a deliberate move away from traditional donor-funded infrastructure toward a commercial model where specialized energy providers entirely finance, install, and maintain the power setups. Under this arrangement, hospitals simply pay for the energy they consume, freeing them to focus on medical operations.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Salako, who hosted the forum alongside technical partners from the UK PACT program, explained that the framework aims to permanently end the energy shortages that disrupt operating theaters, vaccine cold chains, diagnostics, and emergency units. The project is currently targeting federal tertiary hospitals before scaling up to cover smaller clinics nationwide.
The Issues
- Designing affordable payment structures so that smaller, rural clinics can reliably pay for energy services.
- Speeding up the processing of local mini-grid licenses under the new Electricity Act to avoid project delays.
- Coordinating long-term maintenance plans between private energy providers and public hospital technicians.
What’s Being Said
- Highlighting the massive scale of investment opportunities in the country’s medical network, Minister of Power Joseph Tegbe stated that the nation’s 35,000 registered health facilities represent a substantial pipeline of bankable projects capable of attracting local and international capital into solar mini-grids and hybrid energy systems.
- Explaining the core operational shift behind the energy program, Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare Dr. Iziaq Salako described the initiative as a shift from donor-funded infrastructure to a sustainable model where specialized providers finance, deploy, and maintain reliable power systems for health facilities.
What’s Next
- Technical teams from the power and health ministries will coordinate to select the next batch of public hospitals for solar upgrades.
- Financial analysts will work with local commercial banks to create blended financing options for interested green energy developers.
- Government regulators will streamline the application process for private energy firms looking to sign power purchase agreements with state-owned hospitals.
Bottom Line
The Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Health are leveraging Nigeria’s 35,000 health facilities and updated electricity laws to attract private investment into solar infrastructure, shifting public hospital electrification toward a self-sustaining commercial service model.
