General News
Philips Renovates, Deploys Mobile Ultrasound at OriIyanrin Healthcare Centre
On the occasion of Philips’ sixth consecutive Cape Town to Cairo roadshow, Philips in collaboration with OriIyanrin Primary Healthcare (PH) Center popular known as the “Healthcare Centre”) unveiled an extensive overhaul and refurbishment of the mother and child care facilities at the Healthcare Centre.
Essentially, Philips upgraded the facilities in the labour, paediatric and new born baby wards, designing them to support the well-being and recovery of expectant mothers and their new born babies.
It is anticipated that over time, as a result of this pioneering project, many lives will also be saved.
The Healthcare Center, located in Iru/Victoria Island, LCDA, Lagos, has a very high patient in-flow with an average of 300-400 outpatients per month, as well as 30-40 follow up appointments per week.
The Healthcare Center records an average of twenty (20) births per month. The labour, pediatric and new born units in the Healthcare Center prior to the refurbishment were in need of an upgrade.
The Healthcare Center is the largest amongst three primary healthcare centers in the district- Oniru Primary Health Centre and TakwaBay Island Primary Health Centre being the other two; all of which have minimal manpower.
Therefore the upgrading of the Healthcare benefit all three centers, and enable them to provide more efficient patient care.
Calming Environment for Mothers and Babies
The project, undertaken by Philips has resulted in a complete overhaul and renovation of existing mother and child care facilities.
Philips began by painting and decorating the wards in order to create a serene and calming environment; Philips has also installed new toilets, tables, chairs, beds and cabinets.
In addition, all the light fittings have been retrofitted with the latest Philips LED lighting solutions; LED lighting enables rest and recovery, as it’s not as harsh as conventional fluorescent lighting, it requires minimal maintenance and also helps to reduce energy consumption.
Earlier, due to frequent power outages as well as poor and sporadic lighting, doctors found it very challenging to deliver babies at night time, this problem is now eliminated.
This new innovative solar LED lighting provides safe and uninterrupted illumination, while saving costs.
Philips has also invested in landscaping and beautifying the roundabout and streets surrounding the Healthcare Centre; all elements to provide a clean and attractive area, as well as easy access to the Healthcare Center.
Installing lifesaving Innovations
To further improve the maternal health and child care facilities, Philips has also provided the Healthcare Centerwith a range of its innovative solutions, many of which have been developed specifically with African conditions in mind.
Innovative Ultra-Mobile Ultrasound
Noticing the lack of basic ultrasound in the labour ward, Philips has equipped the Healthcare Center with its innovative ultra-mobile ultrasound system VISIQ; the size of a tablet, the VISIQ is the first ultra-mobile system from Philips.
VISIQ’s unique combination of mobility, ease of use and image quality, will enable clinicians in the Healthcare Centre to carry out comprehensive obstetric and abdominal scans themselves rather than referring patients to larger ultrasound centers or hospitals. This enables fast diagnosis and treatment.
Approximately ten times smaller than a traditional ultrasound machine and with reduced energy consumption, VISIQ can be used for screening, triage and fetal well-being scans, all of which helps to address the critical issue of maternal and infant care in Nigeria.
Monitoring with Assurance
In addition, Philips has also installed its Efficia Patient Monitor in the Healthcare Center.
Designed to be both portable and intuitive, and using time-tested physiological measurement algorithms the Efficia monitor will empower staff at the Healthcare Centre with actionable, care-specific information required to make patient management decisions and provide fast and efficient patient care.
Furthermore, to ensure proper usage of the technology, Philips is conducting an extensive training workshop at the Healthcare Center for midwives, maternity nurses, obstetricians and ultrasound practitioners; the objective is to provide hands-on application training, as well as a clinical refresher course on where to look and what to look for, and how to use this information to guide diagnoses and treatment decisions.
For new mothers and soon-to-be mothers in the Healthcare Center, Philips will be hosting demonstrations by experts on the importance of breast feeding and learning the correct techniques to enable comfort and ease for both infant and mother.
Breastfeeding is fundamental to reducing infant mortality. It can protect against common childhood infections such as neonatal sepsis.
According to the WHO (World Health Organization), exclusive breastfeeding for a baby’s first six months and partial breastfeeding into a child’s second year, reduces a child’s chances of succumbing to several preventable illnesses including diarrhoea and acute respiratory tract infections.
Maternity Screening Camp to Enable Early Detection of Complications
As per previous years, Philips is setting up a maternity screening camp during the Nigerian phase of the Cape Town to Cairo roadshow.
The screening camp at the Healthcare Center will give expectant mothers in the local community the opportunity to avail themselves of a free ultrasound screening. For the majority of the women in the area this will be their first time to have a scan during their pregnancy.
A pre-natal screening ensures that any complications can be detected in advance of labour; if any of the women require further medical attention they will be taken care of immediately at the Healthcare Center.
Speaking on these development, at the inauguration of the refurbished facilities, Robin Armstrong, general manager, Philips Healthcare, West Africa said, “It gives me great pleasure to unveil the renovation of the mother and child care facilitates at the Healthcare Center. This project will hopefully ease the burden for the healthcare workers in the district, and in time save many lives as well. Most expectant women visiting this facility can now have access to care which will help to keep both them and their babies healthy.”
Armstrong added that, “Since the beginning of the Philips Cape Town to Cairo roadshow we have continually sought to champion the UN Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 (MDGs), related to reducing child mortality and improving maternal health.
“Our commitment to Mother and Child Care in Africa is unwavering – as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) supersede the MDGs our focus will remain the same, and we will continue to advance healthcare in Africa, providing solutions, innovations and collaborations that bring meaningful change.”
On his part, Dr Wale Akeredolu, medical officer health, Public Health and Primary Health Centre Department, Iru /Victoria Island LCDA commented on the refurbishment thus, “The impact this project will have on our district cannot be overstated. Community Healthcare Centers are generally under resourced and sparsely equipped with technology. Our Healthcare Center is no different in this regard, and in particular our mother and child care facilities have been under enormous pressure in recent years. We are delighted to have collaborated with Philips, as this project will breathe new life into our Healthcare Center and enable us to improve care for our patients.”
Fourth Stop on the Sixth Cape Town to Cairo Roadshow
The announcement of the OriIyanrin Primary Healthcare Center formed part of Philips’ annual pan-African Cape Town to Cairo roadshow that kicked off on 11th May 2015, in Cape Town.
Nigeria is the fourth stop on a journey covering 12,000 km across 11 cities and 8 countries over a period of 4 to 5 months.
The roadshow has gained significant momentum over the past five years, allowing Philips to get to the heart of some of the key issues facing Africa – including Mother and Child Care, the rise of non-communicable diseases, energy efficient LED and solar lighting solutions, as well as shining a spotlight on the need for clinical education and training.
Last year when the roadshow stopped off in Nigeria, Philips unveiled a stunning LED lighting makeover of the well-renowned Nigerian National Arts Theater in Lagos, one of the most iconic buildings in the city.
Royal Philips is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people’s lives through meaningful innovation in the areas of Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle and Lighting.
Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips posted 2014 sales of EUR 21.4 billion and employs approximately 108,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries.
The company is a leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as male shaving and grooming and oral healthcare.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery is reportedly nearing completion of a $2.5 billion private placement that values the company at about $40 billion ahead of its planned public listing.
Private placement is the direct sale of company shares or bonds to pre-selected investors instead of the general public and it is used to raise money quickly while avoiding strict public reporting rules.
People familiar with the transaction said investors acquired as much as 6 per cent of the refinery, according to a BusinessDay report.
The reported terms would value the business at approximately $40 billion.
Neither Dangote Group nor the refinery has publicly announced the final amount raised, the identities of most subscribers or the precise percentage sold.
The figures should therefore be treated as transaction details supplied by unnamed sources rather than confirmed company disclosures.
The reported $2.5 billion total is nevertheless significant as it indicates strong demand for exposure to a privately controlled refinery that has rapidly become central to Nigeria’s fuel supply and an increasingly important exporter of petroleum products.
The placement was said to have attracted more demand than the available shares, allowing the company to secure substantially more than the amount initially associated with the fundraising exercise.
Femi Otedola, chairman, First HoldCo, is the only major participant publicly identified in the report.
He reportedly committed $100 million to the transaction and sold his investment in Geregu Power Plc to finance the acquisition.
Nigeria’s pension industry was also reportedly cleared to participate.
Access to more than $17 billion in retirement assets would broaden the refinery’s potential investor base beyond wealthy individuals and conventional institutional buyers.
Participation by Pension Fund Administrators would, however, require careful attention to valuation, liquidity and portfolio-concentration limits.
Retirement funds must balance the attraction of a large Nigerian industrial asset against their responsibility to protect contributors’ savings.
The implied $40 billion valuation represents investor expectations about the refinery’s future earnings rather than only the physical cost of constructing the facility.
Its ability to process 650,000 barrels of crude daily gives it a central role in supplying Nigeria and other markets, but its commercial performance remains connected to crude availability, product prices, exchange rates and regulation.
The refinery has struggled to obtain all the Nigerian crude it requires under the government’s naira-for-crude arrangement.
It has consequently purchased some feedstock internationally and recently moved local petroleum-product pricing into dollars to align sales revenue more closely with its foreign-currency expenses.
Those constraints will be important during any public offering.
Prospective shareholders will want greater clarity on crude-supply contracts, debt, operating margins, export revenue and the company’s relationship with Nigerian regulators.
It is also unclear whether the private placement involved newly issued shares, a sale by existing owners or a combination of both.
That distinction determines whether the reported $2.5 billion becomes fresh capital for the refinery or proceeds received by selling shareholders.
The transaction could provide a useful price reference for the planned initial public offering.
Federal government will next month launch Nigeria’s first national organized crime strategy to strengthen the country’s response to terrorism, cybercrime, human and drug trafficking, kidnapping, illicit financial flows, and other forms of organized crime.
Major General Adamu Laka, national coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre under the Office of the National Security Adviser, disclosed this in Abuja during the validation of the strategy document.
He said the strategy provides a coordinated national framework for tackling organized crime through improved intelligence sharing, stronger collaboration among security agencies, and closer cooperation with the criminal justice system, civil society organizations, and international partners.
Major General Laka explained that the document was developed through a partnership involving the Federal Government, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United States Government, and other stakeholders.
Speaking at the event, Cheikh Toure, UNODC representative, said the strategy would strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to combat transnational crimes, including drug trafficking, cybercrime, human trafficking, kidnapping, and illicit financial flows.
Also speaking, Douglas Grane, acting director of the United States Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, reaffirmed the U.S. government’s support for Nigeria’s efforts to tackle organized crime through stronger inter-agency and international cooperation.
Representatives of the National Institute for Strategic Studies, the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, and the National Cyber Security Centre also endorsed the initiative, describing it as a major step towards improving Nigeria’s fight against organized crime.
FATE Foundation, with funding from the Citi Foundation, has launched the Youth Entrepreneurship Incubation Programme to equip young people in Nigeria with financial literacy and entrepreneurship skills.
Delivered through free, safe, and accessible platforms, the programme supports the incubation and scaling of youth-led enterprises, enabling income generation and job creation.
In October 2025, FATE Foundation was selected as a recipient of Citi Foundation’s 2025 Global Innovation Challenge to Accelerate Youth Employability. Joining the cohort of 50 organisations globally, the Foundation will receive $500,000 over two years to advance its youth employability initiative.
“We are excited to be selected for Citi Foundation’s 2025 Global Innovation Challenge,” said Ayomide Akindolie-Igwe, Executive Director of FATE Foundation.
“This support enables us to equip young entrepreneurs in Nigeria with the financial literacy and skills needed to build and scale sustainable businesses.”
The programme addresses youth employability by tackling Africa’s growing jobs crisis. By 2030, the African continent will be home to 40% of the world’s youth, and with one in three under 35 already unemployed, this initiative will support Nigerian youth with a two-phase approach. It begins with financial literacy training before progressing to entrepreneurship development, incubation support, and access to tools needed to build viable, job-creating businesses.
“Through this innovative initiative, FATE Foundation is supporting low-income Nigerian youth to develop essential financial and entrepreneurial skills using accessible platforms.
“This support is not just helping individuals to succeed; it is building a solid foundation for sustainable enterprises that will drive job creation and contribute significantly to our nation’s economic vitality. This initiative is empowering and investing in the future of Nigeria, one youth at a time,” said Nneka Enwereji, MD/CEO Citibank Nigeria Limited.
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