ABUJA/Nigeria: The Federal Government has proposed integrating healthcare facilities into the asset-management framework of the newly launched Renewable Asset Management Company (RAMCO) to improve the long-term sustainability of renewable-energy projects powering hospitals and other health institutions across Nigeria.
Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, made the proposal on Wednesday while speaking at the official launch of RAMCO by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) in Abuja.
The event, held at the Congress Hall of Transcorp Hilton under the theme, “Powering Sustainable Growth: Launching Nigeria’s Renewable Asset Management Company,” brought together government officials and stakeholders involved in Nigeria’s renewable-energy sector. RAMCO is being established by the REA in partnership with the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) as a platform for the long-term management and sustainability of publicly funded renewable-energy assets.
Salako said the health sector had a particular interest in the sustainability of renewable-energy infrastructure because electricity is directly linked to the delivery of essential medical services.
He explained that healthcare facilities depend on electricity for critical operations, including vaccine cold chains, oxygen concentrators, operating theatres and neonatal incubators, adding that unreliable power could affect the quality and timeliness of patient care.
The minister said government had already supported the electrification of health facilities through several interventions. He noted that about 100 health facilities had received 50-kilowatt containerised solar hybrid systems under the Nigeria Electrification Project, while other renewable-energy interventions had been implemented in federal tertiary institutions, including teaching hospitals in Maiduguri and Calabar.
Despite these interventions, Salako said energy poverty remained a major challenge for Nigeria’s healthcare system.
He disclosed that between 60 and 70 per cent of primary and tertiary health facilities experience frequent power outages or lack electricity, while about 40 per cent of functional Primary Health Care Centres have no electricity access.
He added that many of the facilities with electricity receive only six to 10 hours of supply daily, while teaching hospitals requiring between three and eight megawatts for optimal operations receive an average of about five hours of grid electricity each day and can spend between 40 and 50 per cent of their operating expenditure on energy, much of it on diesel.
According to the minister, the Federal Government’s Nigeria Power-for-Health Initiative was established to address the challenge, with a target of providing reliable electricity to at least 30 per cent of health facilities nationwide by the end of 2027.
The initiative followed the National Stakeholders’ Dialogue on Power in the Health Sector held in September 2025 and has since developed governance and financing mechanisms involving federal and state governments, private-sector operators and development partners.
Salako, however, said expanding renewable-energy infrastructure would not be enough unless mechanisms were put in place to ensure that existing installations remained functional after commissioning.
He said more than 30 per cent of solar systems installed in Nigerian Primary Health Care Centres become non-functional within three years, attributing the situation largely to inadequate preventive maintenance, shortage of spare parts, insufficient budgetary provisions and uncertainty over responsibility for the assets after project completion.
It was against this background that he proposed a closer working relationship between RAMCO and the Nigeria Power-for-Health Initiative.
Salako identified four areas for collaboration.
He first proposed that healthcare facilities be recognised as a distinct asset class within RAMCO’s portfolio, beginning with teaching hospitals and other facilities that have already benefited from government-backed solar projects.
He also called for RAMCO’s professional asset-management system to be linked with Facility Energy Management Teams being established in hospitals, saying local technical oversight should complement professional management of the energy assets.
The minister further proposed integrating RAMCO’s asset register with energy audits conducted across health facilities. According to him, a common and reliable database would enable the government and investors to make better decisions on maintenance, expansion and financing.
His fourth proposal was for part of the capital recycled through RAMCO to be channelled into Primary Health Care Centres, particularly facilities that may have limited commercial attractiveness but are essential to maternal and newborn healthcare.
Salako said the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare was prepared to support the proposed collaboration, including offering RAMCO a seat on the Inter-Agency Technical Committee of the Nigeria Power-for-Health Initiative.
He also pledged that the ministry would work towards making electricity a dedicated budget consideration across the healthcare system, regularly update facility energy audits, strengthen compliance with installation and certification requirements, including NEMSA certification, and coordinate interventions by development partners and private-sector operators.
The minister stressed that government alone could not finance the scale of energy infrastructure required to transform electricity supply across the health sector.
He called for greater mobilisation of private capital, development finance, climate finance and other innovative financing mechanisms to complement public investment.
Salako said a credible asset-management framework could improve investor confidence by ensuring that renewable-energy infrastructure is professionally managed, performance data are transparent, maintenance is predictable and payment arrangements are credible.
He maintained that achieving the government’s 2027 healthcare electrification target would require more than procuring and installing new equipment.
Rather, he said, the country must ensure that renewable-energy assets are built to last and managed as critical national infrastructure.
The proposal comes as the government moves to address the wider problem of deterioration of publicly funded renewable-energy projects after commissioning. At the RAMCO launch, REA Managing Director Abba Aliyu said the agency’s experience with some existing projects had demonstrated the need for a more sustainable asset-management model.
RAMCO is therefore expected to provide a framework through which renewable-energy assets can be professionally managed, maintained and positioned to attract additional investment over their operational lives.
For the health sector, the proposed collaboration could help protect investments already made in hospital electrification while supporting the government’s broader effort to expand reliable electricity access across healthcare facilities.
