First City Monument Bank (FCMB) has committed ₦20 billion to finance private healthcare businesses in Nigeria, aiming to address a funding gap in a sector that requires affordable, long-term capital.
The Healthcare Fund, announced at FCMB’s inaugural healthcare summit in Lagos, will provide financing to hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centres, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, maternity homes and other healthcare enterprises.
According to the bank, the facility will support business expansion, medical equipment purchases, infrastructure development, working capital and technology investments.
The initiative comes as Nigeria seeks to strengthen healthcare capacity and increase local production of medicines and medical devices. Under the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain, the federal government aims to produce 70 per cent of medicines and medical devices locally by 2030.
Speaking at the summit, FCMB managing director and chief executive officer Yemisi Edun, whose remarks were delivered by executive director, Corporate Services and Service Management Felicia Obozuwa, said a stronger healthcare system requires affordable, patient and long-term capital.
FCMB said the fund is part of a broader healthcare financing strategy that combines lending with advisory services and partnerships to help healthcare businesses improve operations and attract investment.
Healthcare Federation of Nigeria (HFN) President Njide Ndili said access to finance remains one of the biggest challenges facing private healthcare operators.
Ndili said HFN’s experience with the PharmAccess Medical Credit Fund demonstrated that small and medium-sized healthcare businesses could maintain strong repayment records when financing is combined with technical assistance, capacity building and quality improvement programmes.
According to information presented at the summit, HFN will collaborate with FCMB to develop a framework for pre-qualifying healthcare facilities and preparing businesses to access investment. The federation has more than 400 member organisations and 4,000 professionals.
The initiative is also intended to improve the investment readiness of healthcare businesses by strengthening governance, financial reporting, management capacity and growth planning.
Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare Iziaq Salako said more than ₦339 billion has been disbursed through the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund over the past 12 years, including ₦235 billion in the last three years under the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative.
He added that another ₦32.9 billion had recently been released to support more than 8,300 primary healthcare centres, with plans to expand coverage to about 13,000 facilities nationwide.
Salako called for greater mobilisation of public and private capital, urging healthcare operators to strengthen corporate governance, improve financial reporting and adopt blended-finance structures to support growth.
The summit also explored investment opportunities across primary healthcare, diagnostics, local pharmaceutical manufacturing, medical equipment, digital health and healthcare infrastructure.
FCMB said its healthcare financing programme is designed to support businesses across the healthcare value chain as they expand capacity and improve service delivery.
