The Federal Government has announced plans to expand access to eye care services for 25 million vulnerable Nigerians by 2027, including the distribution of five million reading glasses and the provision of 25,000 fully subsidised cataract surgeries.
The initiative is part of Nigeria’s broader efforts to reduce avoidable blindness and improve access to affordable eye health services, particularly among women, older persons and residents of underserved rural communities.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako, announced the commitments during the closing session of the Global Summit for Eye Health.
Salako said the government’s eye health transformation agenda would focus on removing barriers that prevent vulnerable populations from accessing quality eye care.
As part of the programme, the government plans to integrate Primary Eye Care services into the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) and train 15,000 primary healthcare workers to strengthen service delivery at the community level.
He also disclosed plans to increase Nigeria’s active eye care workforce by 20 per cent and improve the country’s Effective Cataract Surgical Coverage (eCSC) by 30 percentage points by 2030.
The minister described access to eye care as a fundamental human right and an important part of national development, noting that preventable vision loss affects more than individual health.
According to him, poor eyesight can undermine educational opportunities, household welfare, personal safety and economic productivity.
Salako also recalled the JigiBola eye care programme introduced in Lagos State about 25 years ago, explaining that the initiative had developed into a broader national intervention through the Effective Spectacle Coverage Initiative, known as JigiBola 2.0.
He said the expansion demonstrated how successful state-level health programmes could be adopted and implemented on a national scale.
The minister further highlighted Nigeria’s participation in the World Health Organisation’s Global Cataract Surgery Initiative, known as SEE 2045, which aims to accelerate international efforts to eliminate cataract-related blindness.
However, he stressed that achieving the country’s eye health targets would require consistent domestic funding, stronger public-private partnerships and sustained cooperation with international development organisations.
He also called on participating countries and global partners to convert their financial commitments into practical interventions, including the distribution of spectacles, improved referral systems and affordable cataract surgeries.
Providing an update on global commitments, Salako disclosed that approximately $60 million had been pledged towards assistive technology, while 15 private-sector commitments valued at more than $468 million had been secured to accelerate eye care programmes.
He added that organisations outside government had made about 143 additional commitments, reflecting increased international support for improving access to eye health services.
The minister said the effectiveness of the initiative would ultimately depend on the number of people whose sight could be protected or restored through affordable, accessible and sustainable eye care programmes.
