On Monday, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority received members of the House of Representatives who were in Lagos to inspect projects undertaken by the Authority and their impact on the economy.
Key areas of focus for the Lagos visits were Healthcare, infrastructure, and Agriculture.
The Ad-hoc Committee was constituted by the House of Representatives to investigate the activities of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) since its inception.
During the visit, the committee hailed the management of the NSIA for their intervention in the healthcare sector.
The members of the House commenced their visit at the NSIA-LUTH Cancer Centre, where the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. 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. Deriving from this, 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 outpatient cancer centre equipped with modern medical infrastructure, has attended to over 10,000 unique people 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 occasioned 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 the NLCC, the NSIA has also invested in two modern medical diagnostic centres collocated within the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital and the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, respectively.
NSIA is now in the process of scaling these interventions, with 3 additional Oncology centres, 23 additional diagnostic centres, and 7 catheterization 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 align 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 revealed that while talking to patients that they met during the oversight, they “admitted that the charges here are the lowest compared to what happens in other areas like Ghana and other African countries. They are still pleading that the government should subsidise it more.
“We noted suggestions, which will be taken to the house to deliberate on. Nigeria already has centres for treating infectious diseases with qualified experts.
“But we will continue to develop more; we do not have enough cancer centres, and there is a need for more investment in our health sector.
“And the government has assured us that they will continue to do that. And we, at the parliament, will continue to appropriate sufficient funds.”
Also speaking during the visit by the lawmakers, the Managing Director, NSIA Healthcare Development Investment Company, Dr. Tolulope Adewole, revealed ongoing expansion by the Authority as part of efforts to contribute towards addressing the country’s healthcare challenges.
“We have started the expansion plan already. We have MoUs signed by different states and 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.
“We are upscaling from one oncology centre to four: one in the north, one in the east, and finally Abuja. The cost is variable, so we can’t say what it will all cost us,” he added.
The Committee also visited Golden Fertiliser Company Limited, a blending plant resuscitated under the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative managed by the NSIA.
The PFI was designed in 2016 to consistently deliver commercially significant quantities of affordable, high-quality fertiliser to Nigerian farmers.
PFI was also designed to revive the local blending industry and adopt an import substitution approach by ensuring that over 60 per cent of the urea and limestone required for the production of fertilisers are sourced locally at the revived blending plants.
The PFI has so far revived and established over 70 blending plants, including Golden and Apapa, across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria.
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 has reduced capital flight through import substitution, delivered over 60 million 50-kg bags of fertiliser, and created more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs within Nigeria.
By expanding production capacity for the blenders under the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative, the prices of NPK have dropped from about N11,000 per 50-kg bag in 2016 to N5,000 per 50-kg bag in 2020.
During the inspection of the fertiliser blending plant, the Committee expressed satisfaction with the impact that the initiative is creating in terms of job creation, food availability, forex conservation, and an increase in yield for farmers.
They, however, pledged to assist in ensuring that middlemen don’t take advantage of the good intentions of the government under the initiative to create scarcity of the product and exhort Nigerians.
The Committee rounded off their assignment with a visit to the Lagos-Ibadan Motorway, 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.
The Lagos-Ibadan Motorway is one of the oldest and busiest routes in Africa, with the potential to unlock significant economic activities and support the seamless movement of people, goods, and services around Lagos, Oyo, and Ogun States.
The Lagos-Ibadan Motorway is one of the projects under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund.
The PIDF was established by the Presidency in 2018 to accelerate the execution of certain critical infrastructure projects pivotal for the country’s development.
The NSIA was mandated by the Presidency to act as project and fund managers for the projects under PIDF.
Other infrastructure projects under the PIDF that are also managed by the NSIA include the Abuja-Kano Road and the Second Niger Bridge.
The financing of these projects has the potential to yield between 274,000 and 616,000 direct and indirect jobs.
During the visit, the NSIA Executive Director, Investments, Mr. Kola Owodunni, told the lawmakers that the Authority NSIA remains focused on enabling overall socio-economic growth through diversification for Nigerians across key sectors including innovation and technology, agriculture, power, gas industrialisation, and financial market infrastructure.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
[VIDEO] ‘We want to go back to school’: Untold story of out-of-school kids in Ibadan
One of the kids who spoke to our reporter, Saheed Abiodun, ran away from home to look for succour in…
Mixed reactions as leaked nude video of TikTok star, ‘Buba girl’, surfaces online
Social media users have continued to react differently to a trending nude video of…
The Alaaye of Efon Kingdom, Obalufon Alayemore, Oba Emmanuel Aladejare, in this interview by…
Goat gives birth to half-human-half-kid in Kwara
A female goat (nanny) has reportedly delivered a half-human, half-goat (kid) at the…
#BBNaijaAllStars: Housemates paid N300k weekly to be on show – CeeC
Big Brother Naija ‘All Stars’ housemate, Cynthia Nwadiora, popularly called CeeC, has revealed the…
AFCON 2023: NFF, Peseiro agree on contract extension
The leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and Jose Peseiro have reached an agreement for…
and then