FG Targets 25,000 Nigerians for Free Cataract Surgery Under Renewed Hope Health Connect

The Federal Government has revealed plans to commence free cataract surgery for 25,000 Nigerians by late October or early November 2026 under its Renewed Hope Health Connect initiative, aimed at expanding access to healthcare for vulnerable citizens.

The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, disclosed this in Abuja at the opening of the 49th Annual National Scientific Conference of the Nigerian Optometric Association (NOA) and the African Council of Optometry (AFCO) Annual General Meeting, held under the theme, "Optometrists in a Changing Africa: From Diversity to Unity."

According to the minister, funds have already been earmarked for the programme in the 2025 and 2026 federal budgets, with the goal of bringing essential eye-care services closer to Nigerians who cannot otherwise afford them. He said the initiative would provide free eye care services, including cataract surgeries, to the 25,000 targeted beneficiaries across the country.

Salako explained that the cataract surgery programme forms part of a broader push under the Renewed Hope Health Connect umbrella, which is also expanding the government's Effective Spectacle Coverage Initiative Nigeria, known as JigiBola 2.0. Under that initiative, he said, more than 2,220 primary healthcare workers across 16 states had been trained to conduct vision screening, while the programme had screened almost two million Nigerians and provided more than 1.3 million people with free reading glasses across participating states nationwide.

He noted that approximately 66 per cent of beneficiaries received their first-ever pair of spectacles through the intervention, underscoring the scale of unmet need for eye care services in the country.

The minister added that ophthalmologists from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory had already been trained on the guidelines to facilitate effective implementation and improve patient outcomes nationwide ahead of the cataract surgery rollout.

Describing the wider target for the programme, Salako said the JigiBola 2.0 initiative is being expanded under the Renewed Hope Health Connect to deliver at least five million free pairs of spectacles and 25,000 free cataract surgeries by the end of 2027.

He described optometrists as the frontline of community eye health, emphasising that their expertise remained critical to achieving universal eye health coverage and reducing preventable blindness nationwide.

In his welcome address, President of the Nigerian Optometric Association, Dr Chimeziri Anderson, described the conference as a celebration of Africa's shared commitment to advancing eye care and strengthening the optometry profession, noting that collaboration among African countries was essential to harmonise professional standards, strengthen education and research, and embrace emerging technologies across the continent's eye-health sector.

The cataract surgery pledge follows earlier remarks by Salako on the same eye-care agenda at the United Nations in New York last year, where he told delegates that Nigeria was scaling up its spectacle coverage programme to tackle avoidable blindness and improve productivity, citing early progress figures from the screening exercise at the time.

Health stakeholders say the twin targets — millions of free spectacles alongside tens of thousands of cataract surgeries — reflect a broader government strategy to treat preventable blindness as both a public health and economic productivity issue, given the number of Nigerians who have never previously had access to corrective eyewear or surgical eye care.