Nigeria Needs Private Sector In Health Reforms – Shettima

Vice President Kashim Shettima has called for increased private sector participation in the ongoing reforms and healthcare development across Nigeria.

He reaffirmed the federal government’s commitment to addressing critical deficits in the health sector through strategic partnerships and investments, noting however that the private sector has a very crucial role to play because the “government alone cannot shoulder this burden.”

The vice president who stated this yesterday when he commissioned the Sulaiman Adebola Adegunwa Trauma Centre in Sagamu, Ogun State, in a statement by his spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha,  said the health facility is a vital addition to the nation’s emergency care infrastructure and a symbol of the government’s dedication to saving lives.

Shettima revealed that President Bola Tinubu had approved a comprehensive health sector renewal investment initiative, including the creation of over 8,800 new primary healthcare centres across the country and the upgrade of existing tertiary institutions to handle trauma, oncology and infectious disease control.

“In a nation facing rising urbanisation, motorisation, and industrial risks, trauma care is no longer optional—it is essential,” Shettima added, describing the facility as “a lifeline and a symbol of preparedness in a nation that cares.”

He commended the Adegunwa family’s initiative, urging more philanthropists and corporate organisations to “rise beyond personal achievement and invest in nation-building.”

Describing the initiative as a model of private sector contribution to public health, Shettima said, “This centre is more than a birthday gift; it is a gift to humanity. It is a lifeline—a sanctuary where the wounded can find healing, and where families in despair can find hope”.

The facility built by the Sulaiman Adebola Adegunwa Foundation within the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital aligns with the federal government’s Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative aimed at overhauling Nigeria’s healthcare delivery system.

“The administration is investing in a National Health Insurance Scheme that leaves no Nigerian behind, and a Digital Health Information Management System that ensures data drives diagnosis and delivery,” the Vice President stated.

The commissioning ceremony coincided with the 80th birthday celebration of Alhaji Sulaiman Adebola Adegunwa, a former chairman of Sterling Bank Plc and CEO of Essay Holdings Limited, the parent company of Rite Foods Limited.

In his remarks, the Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun, described the celebrant, Adegunwa, as “a philanthropist, entrepreneur and an astute businessman,” who even at the age of 80 has achieved greatness at all times.