The Ad-hoc Committee constituted by the House of Representatives to investigate the activities of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority since its inception has hailed the management of the NSIA over its interventions in the healthcare sector.
The members of the committee commended the NSIA during an oversight visit at the NSIA-LUTH Cancer Centre in Lagos on Monday.
According to a statement, members of the committee were in Lagos to inspect and review the projects undertaken by the NSIA and their impact on the Nigerian economy, adding that the key areas of focus for the Lagos visits were healthcare, infrastructure, and agriculture.
The members of the House commenced their visit at the NSIA – LUTH Cancer Centre where the Chairman of the Committee, Ademorin Kuye, said the lawmakers were impressed with the quality of service being rendered to Nigerians at the Cancer Centre.
Since its inception, healthcare has been a keen area of focus for the authority.
As a result 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.
Established in 2019, the NLCC – an out-patient cancer center equipped with modern medical infrastructure has attended to over 10,000 unique persons living with cancer and has also deepened the capacity of medical and non-medical professionals within the oncology space.
Over the years, NLCC has reduced capital flight from medical tourism caused by cancer, created direct and indirect jobs, and improved access to quality cancer care, thereby expanding possibilities for people living with cancer.
In addition to NLCC, the statement also noted that NSIA had also invested in two modern medical diagnostic centers collocated within the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital and Federal Medical Center, Umuahia respectively.
It added, “NSIA is now in the process of scaling these interventions, with three additional Oncology centres, 23 additional diagnostic centres, and seven catheterisation laboratories across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. NSIA’s wholly-owned medical services portfolio company, Medserve has been set up to implement these projects.”
The committee chairman said the facilities aligned with the vision and commitment of the government to ensure affordable and efficient cancer care for Nigerians.
He explained, “We are investigating how much has been put into the development of this place. We have seen a lot of modern medical equipment that 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.”
He added, “We noted suggestions, which will be taken to the house to deliberate on. Nigeria already has centres for treating infectious diseases with qualified experts on it. But we will continue to develop more, we do not have enough cancer centers and there is a need for more investment in our health sector.
Also speaking during the visit by the lawmakers, the Managing Director, NSIA Healthcare Development Investment Company, Dr. Tolulope Adewole, revealed the ongoing expansion by the authority, as part of efforts to contribute towards addressing the country’s healthcare challenges.
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 is 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.”
The committee also visited the Golden Fertilizer Company Limited blending plant resuscitated under the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative managed by the NSIA.
The Committee 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 Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is one of the projects under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund. The NSIA was mandated by the Presidency to act as project and fund managers for the projects under PIDF.
