The Federal Government has approved an institutional and financing framework to fast-track the electrification of health facilities across the country as it moves to end decades of unreliable power supply that has crippled operations of medical centres.

The approval was reached at the third meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee (IMSC) of the Nigeria Power for Health Initiative (NPHI), a presidential programme jointly run by the Federal Ministries of Power and Health and Social Welfare, a statement by the Ministry of Power said.

The initiative targets reliable electricity for at least 30 per cent of Nigeria’s health facilities by the end of 2027.

Co-chairing the session, Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, called for a shift from announcements to actual project delivery, telling officials the initiative must move beyond groundbreaking events and public messaging toward commissioning projects Nigerians can verify.

He noted that the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has energised five federal teaching hospitals and other facilities nationwide and linked reliable power directly to patient outcomes, saying it would reduce dependence on emergency generators by hospitals.

The Minister of State for Health, Dr Isiaq Salako, said the committee approved a financing framework to mobilise investment for healthcare electrification, alongside a facility energy management framework that will require participating hospitals to build sustainable systems for managing their own energy infrastructure.

Salako disclosed that eight private sector proposals had been cleared for further engagement, selected from roughly 70 submissions received during a National Healthcare Electrification Investor Matchmaking Week held in Lagos. He said the initiative would now be institutionalised through dedicated budgetary provisions and a full-time Project Coordination Unit.

Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Power, Mahmud Mamman, said uninterrupted electricity underpins vaccine storage, laboratory operations and emergency response systems, describing the NPHI as a collaboration spanning government, development partners and the private sector.