By Joy Odor Reportcircle News
In a decisive move to break one of the most stubborn bottlenecks in Nigeria’s healthcare system, the Federal Government has launched a high-powered inter-agency technical engine to deliver what hospitals have long lacked but desperately need: reliable electricity.
On Tuesday in Abuja, the government inaugurated a 24-member Inter-Agency Technical Committee (IATC) to drive the Nigeria Power for Health Initiative (NPHI), a flagship programme designed to hardwire sustainable energy into the nation’s health facilities.
The target is ambitious and time-bound: by the end of 2027, at least 30 percent of Nigeria’s healthcare facilities are expected to be powered by clean, uninterrupted energy.
For policymakers, the message was clear—healthcare reform without electricity is a contradiction.
“This is where political commitment meets technical execution,” said the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, as he formally inaugurated the committee.
“Without energy, our health facilities simply cannot function from vaccine storage and diagnostics to surgeries, emergency care and childbirth.”
Salako framed the initiative as a central pillar of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s health and human capital development agenda, arguing that stable power supply is no longer a supporting variable but the backbone of effective healthcare delivery.
The new committee, he explained, is expected to do the heavy lifting: scrutinising project designs, enforcing technical standards, coordinating across institutions and ensuring sustainability.
“This is where the real work happens,” he said.
The power-for-health push did not emerge overnight. According to Salako, the journey began in March 2025 with a national stakeholders’ dialogue that brought together government agencies, private sector players and development partners.
The outcome, a detailed communiqué received presidential approval, followed by the creation of an Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee to provide political oversight.
With that structure in place, the IATC now steps in as the delivery vehicle.
At stake is more than electricity. Government officials say success will translate into fewer preventable deaths, stronger maternal and child health outcomes, restored public confidence in public hospitals and a gradual reversal of Nigeria’s costly medical tourism.
By 2027, the plan is to deploy a mix of solar, gas-powered and hybrid renewable solutions to health facilities across the country, reducing dependence on diesel generators and erratic grid supply.
Development partners are already in the picture. Salako acknowledged the World Bank and the Global Fund as critical allies, providing both financing and technical support to scale the initiative.
From the power sector, the signal was equally firm.
The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, represented by Permanent Secretary Alhaji Mahmuda Mamman, described the committee’s inauguration as a turning point in aligning energy planning with social infrastructure.
“Reliable electricity is fundamental to quality healthcare,” Mamman said, noting that diagnostics, emergency services and even safe working conditions for health professionals depend on stable power.
He disclosed that under the World Bank-funded Nigeria Electrification Project, the Ministry of Power has already deployed solar mini-grids and hybrid systems to several health facilities, adding that the NPHI fits squarely into ongoing power sector reforms.
“This initiative creates room for tailored grid enhancements, renewable and hybrid solutions for hospitals, while strengthening coordination across ministries, regulators and the private sector,” Adelabu said.
Co-chairing the new technical committee is Dr. Babatunde Ipaye and Engineer Owolabi Sunday, Director of Renewable and Rural Power Assets at the Federal Ministry of Power.
Both pledged that the committee would exceed expectations and make energy the foundation of health sector reforms from primary healthcare revitalisation to maternal health and cancer care.
Under its mandate, the IATC will lead technical activities for sustainable electrification of health facilities, develop a national action plan, review project proposals, engage stakeholders, conduct technical analyses and submit quarterly reports to the Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee.
For Nigeria’s hospitals many of which still perform surgeries by torchlight or suspend services during outages the Committee’s work could mark the difference between policy rhetoric and lifesaving reality.
This time, the government insists, the switch will stay on.
