Two major public-private partnership projects approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, have remained unimplemented for more than a year after presidential approval.
Documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES show that despite securing all required regulatory clearances from the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), approval from FEC in June 2024 and legal clearance from the Federal Ministry of Justice by June 2025, UCH hasn’t signed the concession agreements for the projects.
|
|
The stalled projects are the renovation and upgrading of the School of Nursing Students’ Hostel, valued at about N929.9 million, and the refurbishment and rehabilitation of the mortuary and pathology laboratory, estimated at about N1.106 billion.
Both were structured as public-private partnerships (PPPs) to be financed, rehabilitated, operated and transferred by a private concessionaire, Olivegreen Advisory Partners Limited.
|
|
|
|---|
Projects to fix long-standing gaps
The projects were conceived to address long-standing infrastructure deficits at UCH, the first federal government-owned teaching hospital.
ICRC documents dated 30 October 2023 on the hostel project describe the need to provide “decent accommodation for students pursuing various fields of academic endeavour,” reduce transportation costs and create a secure environment that would allow students to devote more time to their studies.
The mortuary and pathology laboratory project, also reviewed on 30 October 2023, was justified on the need to provide state-of-the-art facilities for the proper preservation of bodies, improve pathology services and support research at the hospital.
Under the approved structure, both projects were to run for concession periods of up to 20 years, with profit-sharing ratios of 80:20 in favour of the concessionaire and UCH, respectively, subject to periodic review.
Four years of regulatory process
The documents show that the projects went through a rigorous four-year PPP approval process supervised by the ICRC, in line with the ICRC Act 2005 and the National Policy on Public-Private Partnership.
For the mortuary project, UCH received an Outline Business Case (OBC) compliance certificate with reference UCH/OBC/001/2022, issued on 2 September 2022 and signed by the then Director-General of ICRC, Michael Ohiani.
The certificate confirmed that the proposal substantially complied with PPP requirements and was valid for 12 months for presentation to the FEC.
Similar OBC approvals were granted for the hostel project in early 2022, allowing both projects to proceed to private partner procurement and Full Business Case (FBC) stages.
On 30 October 2023, the ICRC issued FBC compliance certificates for both projects after detailed reviews of strategic needs, financial models, risk allocation and value for money.
Recognising changes in macroeconomic conditions, the ICRC revalidated the FBC compliance certificates on 2 May 2024, through a letter referenced ICRC/HQ/P/S.04/273/53, extending their validity for another six months to allow the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to present the projects to FEC.
The revalidation letters, again signed by Mr Ohiani, stressed that the approvals were based on earlier reviews of the project’s objectives, scope, and available information.
On 25 June 2024, FEC approved both projects. The approval was formally conveyed to UCH in a letter dated 9 December 2024, referenced PPP/Diaspora 0068/VIII/68, and signed by Nkechi Egbuedike, Deputy Director, PPP/Diaspora Unit, for the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare.
The letter urged UCH to “take the necessary steps to facilitate the implementation of these projects.” By June 2025, according to the documents, the Federal Ministry of Justice had completed its review of the concession agreements, clearing what should have been the final hurdle to implementation.
Swiss challenge
From the outset, the projects were classified as unsolicited proposals under Section 4 of the ICRC Act. In a letter dated 13 April 2022 from the Federal Ministry of Health, referenced NPPP/Diaspora 0068/VIII/16, the ministry noted that the project proponent would be required to pay an unsolicited proposal acceptance fee of two per cent of project cost, capped at N20 million.
The letter also stated that UCH would underwrite the cost of the Swiss Challenge competitive process and any compensation to participants, in line with ICRC’s methodology for ensuring competition and transparency in unsolicited PPP proposals.
ICRC also made technical recommendations during the process, including corrections to financial models, factoring in regulatory fees of between 1.5 and two per cent of revenue, revenue sharing with UCH from the sixth year of operation and aligning concession periods with projected payback periods. These were incorporated as the projects moved through approval stages.
Post-approval stalemate
Despite securing FEC approval and legal clearance, the concession agreements remain unsigned.
A meeting summary dated 30 October 2025, sent by Olivegreen Advisory Partners to the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, states that during a virtual meeting convened by the ministry, UCH management “essentially chose to repeat and restate earlier comments” already addressed during the ICRC and ministry-led process.
The hospital’s management reportedly sought to renegotiate the entire PPP framework from the OBC stage to FEC approval.
The summary further noted that UCH indicated its intention to discontinue the FEC-approved concessions and insisted on a follow-up physical meeting in Ibadan, a proposal the private partner said was unnecessary.
The private partner described UCH’s actions as “acting ultra vires” by seeking to unilaterally vary or discontinue approvals granted by FEC.
ICRC’s intervention
Earlier, on 19 February 2025, the ICRC had issued a resolution of a meeting on the projects, referenced ICRC/HQ/P/S.04/273/80 and signed by its Director-General, Jobson Ewalefoh.
The resolution recalled that after FEC approval in June 2024, Olivegreen had raised concerns about inflationary pressures arising from subsidy removal and exchange rate unification.
A meeting was convened on 13 February 2025 with representatives of the ministry, UCH, ICRC and the concessionaire.
At that meeting, Olivegreen agreed to drop requests for concession tenor elongation, while UCH was advised to “adhere to the negotiated projects’ agreement terms and conditions because of the potential legal consequences and institutional reputation post-FEC approvals.”
The ICRC also recommended inserting a project review clause to allow a review after three years of implementation, based on actual project data, to address legitimate economic concerns without reopening settled approvals.
Appeal for ministerial intervention
With no progress, Olivegreen wrote again to the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare on 11 November 2025, requesting an urgent meeting.
It stated in the letter that the PPP process began in early 2022, that FEC approval was obtained on 25 June 2024, and that FMOJ clearance was secured by June 2025, yet UCH had failed to execute the agreements.
“We have been on this process for over four (4) years and need to make progress accordingly,” the company wrote.
ALSO READ: EDITORIAL: Turning the page of decay at UCH, Ibadan
It warned that local and foreign partners had committed significant resources in reliance on the integrity of Nigeria’s PPP process and that continued delays could harm investor confidence.
Implications
Nigeria faces a massive infrastructure deficit, estimated at over $3 trillion, with health infrastructure a critical gap.
PPPs are central to the federal government’s strategy to bridge this deficit, particularly in capital-intensive sectors like healthcare.
The ICRC, established in 2005, was meant to provide regulatory certainty and boost investor confidence. As of December 2025, the concession agreements for the UCH projects remain unexecuted.
The Federal Ministry of Health has acknowledged in its correspondence the importance of the projects for improving healthcare delivery and training capacity at UCH.
The private partner has continued to press for ministerial intervention to “bring this matter to a close.”
PREMIUM TIMES reached out to the UCH’s Public Relations Officer, Obafunmilayo Adetuyibi, through calls and messages, but received no response as of the time of filing this report.
