Urges banks, telecoms, energy firms to invest in sustainable eye care

Stakeholders warn that 84% of blindness is avoidable

The Federal Government has called on financial institutions, telecommunications companies and other private-sector players to deepen investment in eye health, warning that preventable and treatable vision loss is silently undermining Nigeria’s human capital, productivity and economic development.

Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Adekunle Salako, made the call yesterday at the Public- Privately Partnership Roundtable meeting for eye health with the theme, “Gift of Sight” organised by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in collaboration with Tulsi Chanrai Foundation (TCF) in Abuja.

Salako said an estimated 24 million Nigerians are living with vision loss, with a significant proportion of cases linked to conditions that are preventable or treatable, including cataracts, glaucoma, uncorrected refractive errors and digital eye strain.

He warned that the consequences extend far beyond the health sector, affecting education, workplace productivity, household incomes and Nigeria’s broader economic prospects.

The minister emphasized that a nation cannot march into economic prosperity if it is walking blind, stressing that vision should no longer be treated simply as a medical concern but as a critical component of national development.

“A worker who cannot see clearly cannot manufacture efficiently, operate heavy machinery safely, analyse financial figures accurately, or till the soil effectively,” Salako said, adding that poor vision in the banking sector could affect data entry, financial analysis and productivity, particularly amid growing concerns around digital eye strain and computer vision syndrome.

The minister painted a gloomy picture of the country’s eye-health burden, saying about 24 million Nigerians continue to live with avoidable blindness or impaired vision despite the availability of relatively simple interventions.

He said children with untreated visual impairments risk falling behind in school, while adults may experience reduced productivity, premature retirement or loss of earning capacity.

He noted that families can also be pushed into poverty when relatives have to leave employment or divert household resources to care for people living with avoidable blindness.

Salako said Nigeria had for decades depended substantially on donor agencies and overseas development assistance to fund eye-health interventions, while acknowledging the important contribution of international partners.

He however stated that with the changing global priorities and declining external funding, Nigeria had to develop a more sustainable domestic financing model stressing that no sovereign nation can sustainably secure the health of its citizens on foreign charity alone.

The minister therefore urged the private sector to work with government to mobilise domestic capital for eye-health infrastructure, workforce development, technology, medicines and community-based services.

Salako cited the partnership between First City Monument Bank (FCMB)) and the Tulsi Chanrai Foundation as an example of what sustained private-sector intervention can achieve.

The partnership, which began in 2009 through the Priceless Gift of Sight initiative, had provided free eye care to more than 400,000 Nigerians by July 2024, according to FCMB.

Salako said the achievement demonstrated that private-sector investment could deliver measurable social impact but stressed that one bank and one foundation could not shoulder the eye-health burden of a country of more than 200 million people.

“What we need to do is expand this blueprint,” he said, challenging companies represented at the meeting to replicate similar interventions across banking, manufacturing, telecommunications, energy and other sectors.

Among the mechanisms proposed were social-impact bonds, blended finance, co-financing arrangements, concessionary loans, social-impact funds and low-interest health infrastructure financing.

He also called for sustainable equipment-leasing arrangements that would allow public and private hospitals to acquire sophisticated diagnostic and surgical equipment without bearing prohibitive upfront costs.

The minister further urged businesses to channel their corporate social responsibility budgets into structured, high-impact national programmes rather than fragmented medical outreaches.

He specifically mentioned the National School Eye Health Programme and rural surgical outreach programmes as areas requiring sustained private-sector support.

Telecoms, manufacturers challenged
The telecommunications sector was also urged to deploy its digital infrastructure and nationwide reach to expand access to eye care.

According to Salako, telecom companies could support tele-ophthalmology, remote consultations, mobile diagnostic applications and cloud-based data systems, particularly in communities where specialist services are scarce.

He also challenged manufacturers to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported optical products.

“Nigeria cannot continue to import over 90 per cent of basic optical consumables,” the minister said.

He called for investment in the local manufacture of spectacle frames, lenses and other consumables, arguing that domestic production could simultaneously reduce costs, create jobs and strengthen Nigeria’s healthcare supply chains.

Local pharmaceutical manufacturers, he added, should be encouraged to produce essential ophthalmic medicines, including treatments for glaucoma, under appropriate quality standards.

He also called for stronger cold-chain systems and distribution networks to improve access to medicines and tackle the circulation of counterfeit products.

Salako appealed to energy companies to devote a structured portion of their community-development and CSR budgets to permanent eye-health services.

Rather than relying primarily on intermittent medical outreaches, he said companies should support community-based eye-care centres integrated into existing Primary Healthcare networks.

The minister also called for investment in regional surgical centres of excellence at secondary and tertiary levels to help reduce the backlog of cataract operations, particularly in underserved regions.

Hee observed that the federal government had already begun expanding access to eye care through its own programmes.

Salako said that under the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare’s JigiBola 2.0 initiative, government and partners had, in just over a year, delivered more than two million free eye screenings, distributed 1.5 million free spectacles to vulnerable Nigerians, trained more than 2,200 Primary Health Care workers, provided them with diagnostic kits and activated more than 800 Primary Health Care centres to provide primary eye-care services.

He said the next phase of the programme would reach more than one million additional Nigerians across 10 states.

Under the Renewed Hope Health Connect programme, he said, the Federal Government was targeting 25,000 free cataract surgeries by 2027.

Salako said government would provide the policy and regulatory environment necessary for private-sector investments to succeed.

He pledged federal support through policy integration, technical assistance, enabling regulations, accountability mechanisms, special concessions and recognition for high-impact private-sector interventions.

‘Investment in sight brings immediate returns’
The economic case for eye-health investment featured prominently at the meeting

Among the mechanisms proposed were social-impact bonds, blended finance, co-financing arrangements, concessionary loans, social-impact funds and low-interest health infrastructure financing.

He also called for sustainable equipment-leasing arrangements that would allow public and private hospitals to acquire sophisticated diagnostic and surgical equipment without bearing prohibitive upfront costs.

The minister further urged businesses to channel their corporate social responsibility budgets into structured, high-impact national programmes rather than fragmented medical outreaches.

He specifically mentioned the National School Eye Health Programme and rural surgical outreach programmes as areas requiring sustained private-sector support.

Telecoms, manufacturers challenged
The telecommunications sector was also urged to deploy its digital infrastructure and nationwide reach to expand access to eye care.

According to Salako, telecom companies could support tele-ophthalmology, remote consultations, mobile diagnostic applications and cloud-based data systems, particularly in communities where specialist services are scarce.

He also challenged manufacturers to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported optical products.

“Nigeria cannot continue to import over 90 per cent of basic optical consumables,” the minister said.

He called for investment in the local manufacture of spectacle frames, lenses and other consumables, arguing that domestic production could simultaneously reduce costs, create jobs and strengthen Nigeria’s healthcare supply chains.

Local pharmaceutical manufacturers, he added, should be encouraged to produce essential ophthalmic medicines, including treatments for glaucoma, under appropriate quality standards.

He also called for stronger cold-chain systems and distribution networks to improve access to medicines and tackle the circulation of counterfeit products.

Salako urged energy companies to devote a structured portion of their community-development and CSR budgets to permanent eye-health services.

Rather than relying primarily on intermittent medical outreaches, he said companies should support community-based eye-care centres integrated into existing Primary Healthcare networks.

He also called for investment in regional surgical centres of excellence at secondary and tertiary levels to help reduce the backlog of cataract operations, particularly in underserved regions.

Salako urged international and local development organisations to continue using catalytic funding to reduce the risks associated with private investment, build technical capacity, pilot new programmes and strengthen health-data systems.

The ultimate objective, he said, should be a transition from donor-dependent projects to a co-financed and locally sustained eye-health ecosystem.

The minister also pointed to evidence suggesting that eye-health interventions can generate substantial economic returns.

He cited research indicating that an investment of $1 per worker generated a return of $3.37 over a three-month period, describing eye care as an intervention with potentially significant economic value.

He said productivity gains from improved vision had also been documented in different sectors, including agriculture.

Also speaking, the Country Director of the Sight Savers Nigeria, Joy Shuiabu Sightsavers said 4.2 million Nigerians aged 40 and above are either blind or visually impaired, including about 1.13 million adults, while 84 per cent of blindness is avoidable.

She noted that cataract accounts for about 43 per cent of blindness, and can in many cases be addressed through surgery adding that the most troubling gap is access to quality care.

She said, “It said only 4.4 per cent of Nigerians currently have access to quality eye-care services, underscoring the scale of the challenge confronting policymakers and healthcare providers”.

Earlier, the Managing Director of the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Mrs Yemisi Edun said the financial institution’s experience had shown that eye health was inseparable from education, productivity, economic inclusion and human dignity.

Edun who was represented by the bank’s Corporate Affairs Executive, Mr Diran Olojo, noted that an untreated vision problem could affect a child’s education, deprive a trader of income or rob an elderly person of the independence needed to navigate daily life.

She noted that FCMB’s experience with the Priceless Gift of Sight initiative demonstrated the value of long-term partnerships.

According to her, the programme was established in 2009 with the Tulsi Chanrai Foundation to help Nigerians access eye care that would otherwise have been beyond their reach.

By July 2024, she said more than 400,000 Nigerians had benefited from testing, optical services, surgeries and disease-management interventions.

Edun cautioned that outreach alone could not solve Nigeria’s eye-health challenge.

“A screening exercise should lead somewhere. A referral should result in care. Equipment should have trained people to operate it and resources to maintain it,” she added.

Edun called for greater investment in primary eye care, referral networks, specialist services, workforce development and health data.
She stressed he roundtable should not end with expressions of goodwill but with clearly defined priorities, financing structures, responsibilities and measurable outcomes.

She proposed three immediate areas of action: identifying communities and services with the greatest unmet needs; developing financing plans that clearly define costs and responsibilities; and establishing delivery and accountability mechanisms with timelines and measurable outcomes.

The government, he said, should provide policy direction and integration with the public health system.

Healthcare providers should define service needs and maintain clinical standards, while foundations and civil-society organisations could strengthen community engagement and help patients navigate treatment.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Tulsi Chanrai Foundation, Shravan Kumar, said the impact of eye-care interventions could often be seen immediately after treatment.

He stressed the importance of sustaining the partnership between government and private organisations, noting that successful eye-health interventions could transform not only beneficiaries but their families and communities.

“Once the surgery is done, once the spectacle is given, you can see a world of difference from the beneficiary, from their immediate family and friends,” he said.

Kumar described eye health as one of the most significant areas of progress in Nigeria’s health sector in recent years, pointing to advances in national policies, training and service delivery