Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, NSIA and the International Finance Corporation, IFC(an arm of the World Bank) have signed what has been described as a “landmark” partnership agreement to finance the expansion of oncology facilities round the country.
At a grand signing ceremony held in Abuja on Tuesday ,February 3,three federal ministers and top officials of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority joined ranking officials of the IFC to sign the agreement.
Leading the Nigerian side was the Finance Minister and coordinating minister of the Economy,Chief Wale Edun,Minister of Health and Social Welfare,Professor Ali Pate, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu. Others were Managing director of NSIA, Aminu Umar-Saddiq ,Executive director,ijeoma Taylaur and Managing director/CEO of Medserve (NSIA;s medical arm) Dr Tolu Adewole.
On the IFC side were Ethiopis Tafara, Vice President for Africa, Dahlia khalifa, regional director for Central Africa and Anglophone, Country director.IFC, Dr Christian Mulamula and Dr Okunola( World Bnak)
Tafaras said that the IFC was poised for a partnership with NSIA that would assist in funding the expansion of oncology centres in the country.He noted that there has been a growth in non-communicable diseases globally .And that the private sector has a orle to play in efforts to combat this.He said that under a joint World Bank and IFC advisory effort,,$3 billion has been committed globally to fight against these non-communicable diseses including cancer,$700 million of this amount has been committed to Africa.
Dr Tolu Adewole, Managing director of Medserve commended the IFC and the World Bank group for their support for the country’s healthcare system.He said that the objective of the NSIA/Medserve expansion efforts was to “ drive access to quality and affordable oncology care for every Nigerian from Zungeru to Lagos.”
Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Ali Pate said that the goal was to reduce the cost of oncology treatment both globally and in Nigeria. Pate noted that the first NSIA/Medserve oncology centre was co-located at the Lagos University Teathing Hospital,LUTH and since then, the number of oncology centres have grown to four while there are over 15 diagnostic centres round the country. ”With the partnership and support of the IFC,the number of centres is expected to grow further”,Pate said.
Pate said that expansion of number of oncology centres under the partnership with the IFC would create 700 new jobs, describing it as a catalyst for more efforts to strengthen healthcare in Nigeria. He said that the healthcare eco-system in the country was changing and that most spending is in the private sector. Pate said he was elated at the thought of” the :many lives that would be touched as a the result of this partnership.”
Finance Minister and coordinating minister of the economy, Chief Edun while welcoming the NSIA/IFC partnership ,he nonetheless wants the IFC to commit more funds to back the oncology centres expansion drive in Nigeria.
Commenting ,Managing director of NSIA ,Aminu Umar-Saddiq lauded the vision and unwavering support of ministers Edun and Pate for the NSIA/Medserve Oncology capacity development project and looked forward to an enduring NSIA/IFC partnership.
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