The Niger State Ministry of Health says it has established the Private Health Facilities Agency (NISPHFA) to promote quality, safety, and regulatory excellence in private healthcare delivery.

The Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NISPHFA, Dr Abdullahi Suleiman, on Saturday in Minna, said the agency would protect patients, improve standards and promote accountability in private healthcare delivery.

Mr Suleiman said the agency’s vision was to become Nigeria’s foremost health regulatory institution, driving a well-regulated, equitable and internationally benchmarked private healthcare sector.

He explained that the agency was mandated to register, regulate, monitor and evaluate all private health facilities in the state to ensure compliance with established standards.

 According to him, the NISPHFA is responsible for licensing private healthcare facilities, setting standards for staffing, infrastructure, equipment and service delivery, conducting inspections, accrediting facilities and enforcing compliance.

 The chairman disclosed that the agency had developed registration guidelines covering 20 categories of private health facilities, launched a digital registration portal, and engaged more than 1,000 facilities across the state’s 25 local government areas.

He added that the agency had also established strategic partnerships with security agencies and peer regulators to strengthen enforcement and compliance mechanisms.

Mr Suleiman assured private healthcare providers that the agency would operate as a partner in improving standards rather than as an adversary.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Murtala Bagana, described the agency as a major milestone in the ongoing transformation of the state’s health sector.

Mr Bagana said the agency reflected the ministry’s commitment to building strong institutions capable of safeguarding standards, protecting patients and ensuring access to safe and properly regulated healthcare services.

He said the establishment of the NISPHFA was in line with Governor Umaru Bago’s New Niger Agenda and the Ministry of Health’s THRIVE reform framework, designed to strengthen governance, improve infrastructure, enhance accountability, and expand access to quality healthcare services.

The commissioner noted that sustainable healthcare transformation required effective regulatory institutions capable of assuring quality, enforcing standards and generating reliable data for informed decision-making.

He explained that the NISPHFA was established to address long-standing challenges in the private healthcare sector, including fragmented regulation, inadequate data, and inconsistent enforcement of standards and weak integration of private healthcare providers into the broader health system.

Mr Bagana said the agency would play a strategic role in advancing Universal Health Coverage and strengthening the state’s overall health system.

Governor Bago, who was represented at the event by the Head of Service, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq, said the establishment of the agency demonstrated the administration’s commitment to building strong institutions that deliver measurable benefits to citizens.

He described the NISPHFA as a practical expression of the New Niger Agenda and commended the Ministry of Health for driving reforms to improve healthcare quality and patient safety.

He noted that the agency’s enabling law, enacted in 2025, positioned Niger among the states pursuing dedicated regulation of private healthcare facilities.

The governor also lauded the agency’s deployment of a technology-driven registration platform and its engagement with private healthcare providers across the state.

He urged the agency’s management and staff to uphold professionalism, transparency and accountability in carrying out their mandate.

(NAN)