Osinbajo Pushes New Healthcare Financing Model

Nigeria’s immediate past Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has called for a new approach to financing healthcare in Africa.

He argued that government funding alone cannot address the continent’s growing healthcare needs.

Osinbajo made the call at a high-level roundtable on Innovative Financing Models for Africa’s Healthcare Systems, convened by Future Perspectives, an organisation he founded, in partnership with the Gates Foundation in Lagos.

The hybrid event brought together senior government officials, development finance institutions, financial institutions, investors, capital market leaders and healthcare executives to explore practical solutions to persistent financing gaps in Nigeria’s healthcare system.

In his opening remarks, Osinbajo stressed the urgency of rethinking healthcare funding, noting that “government spending alone can never address the scale of the challenge.”

He observed that most Nigerians still depend on out-of-pocket healthcare payments, adding that the objective of the roundtable was to identify “practical ways to finance healthcare through innovative and sustainable mechanisms.”

Representing the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, the National Coordinator of the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC), Dr Abdu Mukhtar, highlighted the country’s low health insurance coverage.

“Only 10 to 12 per cent of Nigerians have health insurance,” Mukhtar said, noting that partnerships with institutions such as Afreximbank and the European Investment Bank are helping to unlock billions of dollars in potential investments for the sector.

He, however, identified a major financing gap for smaller healthcare providers, saying, “There is a missing middle. Many businesses need just $2–5 million to grow, but struggle to access capital.”

Speaking on behalf of the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Aminu Umar-Sadiq, Dr Tolulope Adewole, MD/CEO of MedServe, said affordability remains one of the biggest barriers to healthcare delivery.

“The bigger problem sits on the demand side,” Adewole said, explaining that a significant proportion of Nigerians live on low incomes, making access to healthcare difficult. He added that “collaboration is what will take us out of this challenge,” stressing that sustainable projects can attract long-term capital.

From an investor’s perspective, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of AfyA Care, Dapo Akisanya, said healthcare should be viewed as a commercially viable sector.

“Healthcare can be structured as a profitable and scalable sector,” he said, calling for increased impact investing and blended financing to support growth across the healthcare value chain.

Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of Chapel Hill Denham, Bolaji Balogun, described private capital as indispensable to healthcare financing.

“Government funding is wholly inadequate, and private capital is essential,” Balogun said, adding that healthcare requires patient, long-term financing best supported by capital markets because they provide the deepest pools of capital and the transparency investors require.

Senior Investment Officer at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Chishamiso Mawoyo, said while Africa’s healthcare sector faces significant structural challenges, those gaps also present opportunities for investment and innovation.

She emphasised the need for local currency financing, noting that “healthcare providers serve local populations, so financing must reflect that reality.”

Deputy Director at the Gates Foundation, Ekenem Isichei, stressed that financing should ultimately improve healthcare outcomes.

“Financing must translate to real impact,” Isichei said, adding that resources must deliver on “lives saved and livelihoods improved.” He further noted that philanthropy should “catalyse systems that unlock capital more effectively,” particularly through integrated blended finance approaches.

The World Bank’s Senior Health Financing Specialist, Dr Olumide Okunola, underscored the importance of public funding, saying, “Without strong public financing, everything else is limited,” and called for measures to reduce Nigerians’ dependence on out-of-pocket healthcare spending.

Closing the session, Co-Founder of Future Perspectives, Yemi Asekun, said discussions would now be translated into practical financing solutions.

“Capital always follows capacity and management,” Asekun said, adding that the next step would be to convert ideas from the roundtable into practical and actionable financing models, including possible structures for a national healthcare investment platform.

The session was moderated by Serah Makka, Executive Director for Africa at ONE and a member of the Future Perspectives Board.