The Federal Government has announced plans to expand access to affordable eye care services for more than 25 million vulnerable Nigerians, with a commitment to provide five million reading spectacles and 25,000 fully subsidised cataract surgeries by 2027.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, disclosed this while delivering the closing address at the Global Summit for Eye Health in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda.
According to a statement issued by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare on Tuesday, the initiative is part of the government’s efforts to eliminate avoidable blindness and improve access to quality eye care, particularly for women, older persons and residents of underserved communities.
Salako, who reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment on behalf of President Bola Tinubu, said eye health was fundamental to human development, noting that preventable vision loss affects education, household welfare, personal safety and national productivity.
“Eye health is a fundamental human right and a critical component of human development,” the minister said.
He explained that the government’s eye health transformation agenda would include integrating Primary Eye Care into the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, training 15,000 primary healthcare workers and distributing five million pairs of ready-made reading spectacles.
The government also plans to increase the country’s active eye care workforce by 20 per cent and improve its Effective Cataract Surgical Coverage by 30 percentage points by 2030.
Reflecting on Nigeria’s experience with the JigiBola eye care initiative introduced in Lagos State about 25 years ago, Salako recalled his involvement in the programme as a young medical officer.
He said the initiative had evolved into a broader national intervention through the Effective Spectacle Coverage Initiative, known as JigiBola 2.0, demonstrating how successful state-level programmes could be expanded into national health policies.
The minister also highlighted Nigeria’s participation in the World Health Organisation’s Global Cataract Surgery Initiative, also known as SEE 2045, which seeks to accelerate efforts to eliminate cataract-related blindness.
Salako, however, stressed that achieving the targets would require sustained domestic funding, stronger public-private partnerships, collaboration with international development organisations and accountability for commitments made.
He urged participating countries and global partners to translate their pledges into practical interventions, including the provision of spectacles, timely referrals and affordable cataract surgeries.
The minister commended Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Tanzania and China for their commitment to advancing the global eye health agenda, particularly in rural and underserved communities.
He also disclosed that development and philanthropic partners had pledged approximately $60m towards assistive technology, while 15 private-sector commitments valued at more than $468m had been secured to accelerate eye care implementation.
According to him, about 143 additional commitments had also been made by organisations outside government.
Salako expressed appreciation to the government and people of Antigua and Barbuda for hosting the summit, while acknowledging the contributions of the World Health Organisation, the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, development partners and other stakeholders.
He urged governments and development organisations to ensure that the commitments made at the summit translated into measurable improvements in access to eye care.
The minister said the ultimate measure of success would be the number of people whose sight was protected or restored through accessible and sustainable eye care services.
