ABUJA — President Bola Tinubu has established the National Health Technology Office and appointed Dr Obi Adigwe as its coordinator. Punch confirmed the appointment on Friday, June 26. The new office is tasked with driving Nigeria’s digital health agenda, including electronic health records, telemedicine expansion, and AI-assisted diagnostics.
Adigwe is the immediate past Director-General of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development. His appointment was welcomed by health technology stakeholders who described him as a credible technocrat with a strong record in pharmaceutical innovation and health systems research.
The Presidency said the new office will coordinate digital health initiatives across the Federal Ministry of Health, state health ministries, and private health technology providers. It is intended to end the fragmentation that has historically characterised Nigeria’s approach to health data and digital tools.
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What the Office Will Do
Officials said the National Health Technology Office will set interoperability standards so that patient records can move between hospitals and states without the duplication and data loss that currently plague Nigeria’s paper-heavy health system. It will also evaluate and approve AI diagnostic tools before they are deployed in public health facilities.
Adigwe said his priority will be ensuring that digital health investments translate into measurable improvements for ordinary Nigerians, particularly in underserved rural areas where the doctor-to-patient ratio remains far below WHO recommendations. He said technology cannot substitute for health workers but can multiply their reach significantly.
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The office’s creation follows growing private sector activity in Nigerian digital health. Companies using AI for diagnostic support and electronic medical record management have expanded rapidly in recent years, but have operated largely without a coordinated national regulatory framework. Industry players said clear standards from a dedicated federal office will accelerate responsible adoption.
Linked to Broader Digital Reform
The announcement comes the same week Tinubu signed the NIMC Act 2026, strengthening Nigeria’s digital identity infrastructure. Officials said the two reforms are intentionally connected, since a reliable digital health system depends on accurate, secure identity verification to link patients to their records across different providers.
Civil society health advocates urged the new office to prioritise transparency and to consult widely with patient groups before finalising technical standards. They said previous digital health pilots in Nigeria have sometimes failed because they were designed without sufficient input from the communities and health workers expected to use them.
