The Enugu State government and a group of Nigerians in the diaspora have sealed a deal to build a state-of-the-art medical city for over $300 million.
The proposed city, which would play in all the value chains of medical services to make Enugu State the hub of medical tourism on the African continent, will see the state provide 100 hectares of land in consideration, for which it would get a 10 percent equity stake in the Special Purpose Vehicle, SPV, for the development.
Governor Peter Mbah received the executive and management of African Medical City yesterday at the Government House in Enugu.
The governor said the development was in line with his campaign promise to grow the state’s economy from $4.4 billion to $30 billion and make it the premier destination for business, investment, tourism, and living.
He assured the investors, who are mostly Nigerian medical doctors based overseas, that the state government would discharge its obligations with dispatch to ensure a timely realisation of the initiative. He blamed the lack of modern facilities for the over $1 billion Nigerians are estimated to spend on medical tourism annually.
“What we are witnessing today is monumental, and we cannot take its value and significance for granted. This aligns with our humongous promise to our people during our campaign for office to grow our GDP exponentially from $4.4 billion to $30 billion.
“But we recognised that a lot of that growth will come from the private sector, and we also recognised that it has to be enabled by the government. So, our strategy was to have a government-enabled but private sector-driven economy.
“So, coming to Enugu with an investment size of over $300 million, we knew it was something that must not escape us when we heard of it. We must do everything necessary to ensure that the investment is not only sitting here but that we also recruit you as one of our testimonials, people who can market Enugu based on your experience in terms of how we made it easy for you to come here and invest and how we have also shown transparency, accountability and integrity in the entire process.
“You can be assured that we will discharge all those obligations creditably,” the governor said.
Speaking, the chairman of the African Medical City, Dr. Ethelbert Nwanegbo, said the group was attracted to Enugu by the investment and ease of doing business push by the present administration in the state.
“What we are trying to do here is to establish a medical city. A medical city is not just a medical building, to be sure. So, when we think of Africa, we think of Nigeria and think of yesterday.
“We are not looking at the Enugu State of yesterday, but Enugu State of the future. And there is no better time for us to institute this, and there is no better place to establish the African Medical City than Enugu State. That is why we are proudly here, and we are proud to make this place our home.
“I believe that what this project is going to do to the economy of this state in the future, there is no other state that can stand the chance, especially in the areas of GDP, employment, the welfare of our young and older parents and health status in the West African region,” he stated.
In his remark, the president/CEO of African Medical City, Dr. Uchenna Ogbozor, assured that the organisation would hit the ground running.
“African Medical City is a big organisation with 21 members. So, I want to commend our members, including those not here, for their financial commitment and capabilities,” he said.