By Muhammad Amaan
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Signify Foundation have entered into a three-year partnership to provide 10,000 solar lighting units to healthcare facilities in seven states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
UNFPA Nigeria Communication Analyst, Mr Adewole Ajao, said this in a statement issued on Thursday in Abuja.
According to him, the partnership will cover healthcare facilities in Borno, Yobe, Lagos, Ogun, Sokoto, Akwa Ibom and the FCT, particularly those serving underserved and hard-to-reach communities.
Mr Ajao said the initiative would provide 4,170 solar streetlights and 5,830 solar floodlights to improve lighting, safety and access to essential healthcare services.
He said an initial batch of 1,390 solar streetlights and 1,944 solar floodlights would arrive in Nigeria before the end of 2026.
According to him, the intervention will support safe spaces, youth-friendly centres, obstetric fistula centres and health facilities under the Maternal and Newborn Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII).
He said the partnership would strengthen the safety, dignity and operational capacity of healthcare facilities, particularly for women, girls, adolescents and other vulnerable populations.
Ajao quoted UNFPA Nigeria Resident Representative, Ms Muriel Mafico, as saying that reliable electricity was one of the strongest enablers of quality healthcare delivery.
Mafico said the partnership would improve healthcare delivery by strengthening local lighting infrastructure and enabling facilities to extend service hours.
“Reliable lighting will enable communities to extend service hours, strengthen emergency and maternal health responses, and improve confidentiality and safety for survivors in designated safe spaces.
“It will also create opportunities for youth engagement. By lighting critical community facilities, the initiative will support safer environments, increase community resilience, and contribute to better outcomes for vulnerable populations,” she said.
Similarly, Yue Cui, Director of Signify Foundation, said access to quality healthcare required safe and well-lit environments where patients could seek care and health workers could perform their duties, including at night.
Cui said solar lighting offered a practical solution because it was easy to install and maintain, with the capacity to serve communities for years.
“We are grateful to UNFPA Nigeria for this partnership and for the opportunity to bring light to communities where it is needed most.
“At a time when humanitarian resources are stretched, we hope this partnership shows how our interventions can make essential healthcare services safer and more accessible,” she said.
UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, working towards a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.
Signify Foundation is an independent non-profit organisation primarily funded by Signify, with a mission to expand access to lighting in underserved communities globally.
