By Chukwuma Umeorah
The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has said that strengthening the infrastructural framework for treatment of cancer in Nigeria would save the nation billions lost to medical tourism while improving access to quality healthcare.
The Managing Director, NSIA Healthcare Development Investment Company, Dr Tolulope Adewole, revealed this at the NSIA-LUTH Cancer Centre (NLCC) on Monday, as he received members of the House of Representatives who were in Lagos to inspect projects undertaken by the Authority and their impact on the economy. The key areas of focus for the Lagos visits were Healthcare, Infrastructure and Agriculture.
The Ad-hoc Committee led by Ademorin Kuye, said that the lawmakers were happy with the quality of service being rendered to Nigerians at the cancer centre noting the facility aligned with the vision and commitment of government to ensure affordable and efficient cancer care for Nigerians. “We are investigating how much has been put into the development of this place. A lot of modern medical equipment has been brought to this place. “We are also seeing the quality of service being rendered to Nigerians and we are impressed and we will go back to report to the entire parliament and tell them that we need more of this in other places.”
The NSIA Healthcare Development Investment Company was established to catalyse private sector investments to address the infrastructure gaps in the healthcare sector, improve manpower, and forge strategic collaborations to advance healthcare indicators in the country. Adewole revealed that Cancer Centre since established in 2019 has managed over 10,000 cancer-related cases. He noted that cancer treatment in Nigeria was the most affordable option not only within West Africa but also on a global scale. “The cost-effective treatments provided at the centre is estimated to save Nigeria a staggering $10,000 per patient when compared to other healthcare facilities both regionally and internationally. This of course multiplied by the number of cancer cases in Nigeria would run into several billions.”
Revealing the ongoing expansion by the Authority, he said, “We have started the expansion plan already, We had MoUs signed by different states, signed with different tertiary hospitals, and some of the equipment needed are ready to be disbursed.
“We hope to go live in the next 24 months. We have a project in which we are building four diagnostic hospitals, in each geo-political zone and that will be done in two phases.
“We are upscaling from one oncology centre to four: one in each geopolitical zone,”
Other NSIA project visited by the Committee was the Golden Fertilizer Company Limited-a blending plant resuscitated under the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI) managed by the NSIA where they expressed satisfaction with its operations.
The PFI was designed in 2016 to deliver commercially significant quantities of affordable, high-quality fertilizer to the Nigerian farmers.
The Initiative also facilitated local production and supply of NPK at affordable prices to farmers, which has correspondingly improved food security and slowed down food inflation in Nigeria.
Additionally, the PFI had reduced capital flight through import substitution, delivered over 60 million, 50kg bags of fertilizer and created more than 100,000 direct/indirect jobs within Nigeria.
They rounded off their assignment with a visit of the Lagos Ibadan Expressway, a 127.6 km long, busy interstate road, that cuts through Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states.
The Chairman expressed satisfaction with the progress of the project.
During the visit, the NSIA Executive Director, Investments, Kola Owodunni, told the lawmakers that the NSIA remained focused on enabling overall socio-economic growth through diversification for Nigerians across key sectors including innovation and technology, agriculture, power, gas industrialization and financial market infrastructure.