Nigeria’s quest to build a self-reliant healthcare system received a major boost on Monday as President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, and Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu called for urgent investment in local production of advanced medical therapies, warning that the country can no longer afford to depend heavily on imported healthcare products while billions of naira continue to leave its economy through medical tourism.

The two leaders made the call at the African Regenerative Medicine and Longevity Summit in Lagos, where healthcare experts, policymakers, investors and scientists gathered to discuss the future of advanced medicine in Africa and the role of innovation in transforming healthcare delivery across the continent.

The summit also witnessed the official launch of Atunse Healthcare, a new medical enterprise with ambitious plans to manufacture and distribute advanced regenerative biologics in Nigeria, train local scientists and clinicians, and make cutting-edge treatments more accessible to Nigerians.

Speaking through Fatima Aliko Dangote, Group Executive Director, Commercial Operations for Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries, Aliko Dangote said the COVID-19 pandemic exposed a painful reality for Africa — that excessive reliance on foreign countries for critical healthcare products leaves nations vulnerable during global crises.

According to him, the pandemic revealed how quickly countries prioritised their own populations when vaccines, diagnostics and life-saving medicines became scarce, leaving many African nations struggling to secure essential medical supplies.

Dangote argued that Nigeria must learn from that experience and take deliberate steps to become a producer rather than a consumer of advanced medical technologies.

He said the country possesses the human capital, entrepreneurial drive and market potential needed to establish a thriving healthcare manufacturing industry, but stressed that success would depend on strategic collaboration between government, investors, scientists and private-sector operators.

"COVID-19 taught us a very important lesson: dependence is a vulnerability," he said.

"What has become clear is that Nigeria must begin to build the capacity to produce the medicines and technologies it needs. The future of healthcare on the continent cannot continue to depend entirely on imports."

Dangote described the emergence of Atunse Healthcare as a significant step toward achieving that vision, noting that initiatives capable of combining scientific innovation with local manufacturing should be encouraged and supported.

He maintained that sustainable progress in the healthcare sector would only be achieved when public policy aligns with private-sector investment and innovation.

According to him, government must create the enabling environment while businesses provide the execution, capital and expertise required to scale transformative healthcare solutions.

Also lending support to the initiative was Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi.

The governor said Nigeria's healthcare challenges extend beyond infrastructure and funding, pointing to the steady migration of doctors, scientists and healthcare professionals to foreign countries in search of better opportunities.

Abayomi noted that investments in specialised medical sectors such as regenerative medicine could help reverse the trend by creating opportunities capable of attracting highly skilled Nigerians back home.

He said the development of advanced medical facilities and research centres would not only improve healthcare outcomes but also position Nigeria as a destination for innovation and medical excellence.

"We need our experienced specialists back home," he said.

"When initiatives like this begin to emerge, they create confidence that Nigeria can offer opportunities comparable to what many professionals are seeking abroad."

The commissioner described regenerative medicine as one of the most promising frontiers in global healthcare, capable of transforming the treatment of chronic diseases and improving quality of life. However, he stressed that Nigeria must invest heavily in research, education and institutional capacity if it hopes to benefit from the sector's enormous potential.

He added that government alone could not drive such transformation and called for stronger partnerships involving universities, healthcare institutions, researchers and private investors.

Earlier, President and Chairman of Atunse Healthcare, Prof. Kamar Adeleke, outlined the company's vision of reducing Nigeria's dependence on foreign healthcare systems and ensuring that advanced medical treatments become accessible to more Nigerians.

He said for decades, access to the most sophisticated forms of healthcare has largely been reserved for citizens who could afford to travel overseas, leaving millions without options when faced with serious medical conditions.

According to Adeleke, Atunse was founded on the belief that advanced medicine should be available within Africa rather than remaining at the far end of an international import chain.

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He disclosed that the company is already providing services across several specialised areas, including aesthetic medicine, longevity and vitality care, men's wellness, women's wellness, musculoskeletal support and neurological care.

Adeleke painted a stark picture of Africa's dependence on imported medical products, revealing that the continent imports approximately 99 per cent of its vaccines and more than 95 per cent of its medicines while producing less than one per cent of global vaccine supply.

He also highlighted the enormous financial burden of medical tourism, citing estimates showing that Nigerians spent about $2.39 billion on overseas medical treatment in 2024 alone.

Yet, he argued that the true cost goes beyond money.

According to him, countless Nigerians are denied access to advanced healthcare simply because they lack the resources to seek treatment abroad.

To address this challenge, Atunse Healthcare has entered into a partnership involving KweHealth LLC of the United States and Nigeria's Tri-State Healthcare System, combining international scientific expertise with local clinical capacity.

The company plans to focus on clinical service delivery, advanced biomanufacturing, medical research and regulatory development, while working towards establishing cGMP-grade production of advanced biologics within Nigeria.

Its long-term vision includes the local production of vaccines, cell therapies and gene therapies—areas currently dominated by foreign manufacturers.

Adeleke stressed that local manufacturing alone would not solve Nigeria's healthcare challenges unless it is matched by investments in human capital development.

"A country that manufactures without training its own scientists and regulating its own standards has simply replaced one dependency with another," he said.

The Chief Executive Officer of Atunse Healthcare, Dr. Sola Oluwole, echoed similar concerns, arguing that Nigeria's medical tourism problem has continued to drain the country of both financial and intellectual resources.

He said every patient who travels abroad for treatment represents lost economic value, lost demand and lost opportunities for local healthcare institutions to grow and improve.

"What Nigeria loses is not only money," Oluwole said.

"It is the demand, the capital and the clinical talent that need never have left."

He added that the company's mission is to build an ecosystem where treatment, manufacturing, distribution and the skilled workforce needed to sustain them are all developed within Nigeria.

Also speaking at the event, Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, reaffirmed the agency's commitment to supporting responsible innovation in the healthcare sector.

Represented by Khadijah Ade-Abolade, Director of Vaccines, Biologics and Medical Devices Registration Directorate, Adeyeye disclosed that the agency is restructuring its regulatory framework to keep pace with emerging medical technologies.

She assured stakeholders that while NAFDAC remains open to innovation, it would continue to enforce strict standards to ensure the safety, quality and effectiveness of new therapies entering the market.

The regulator also warned against the growing proliferation of unapproved stem-cell treatments and misleading health claims by some wellness centres and online vendors.

The launch of Atunse Healthcare comes at a time when calls are intensifying across Africa for greater investment in pharmaceutical production, vaccine manufacturing and healthcare innovation.

For many stakeholders at the summit, the message was clear: Nigeria's future healthcare security will depend not on how much medicine it can import, but on how much it can produce, regulate and innovate at home.