When people go hungry, healthcare takes a back seat — CEO Synlab Okorie, ATE 2026

Synlab Nigeria’s chief executive officer, Kenneth Okolie, warned that privatizing healthcare alone will not resolve Nigeria’s health challenges unless the country also tackles widespread poverty and expands access to health‑financing mechanisms.

Okolie made the remarks during a panel titled “Will Privatising Healthcare Save It?” at the Africa Technology Expo 2026, which took place in Lagos on Saturday.

He argued that investments in hospitals and medical staff will have limited effect if millions of Nigerians cannot afford care.

“As much as we solve infrastructure and personnel issues, if we don’t lift people out of poverty, the goal we desire will be a mirage. When people pay for healthcare out of pocket, the first question they ask is, have I eaten? Have my children eaten? If those questions are not answered, the next thing a person with a headache will do is go to church,” he said.

Okolie stressed that health reforms should not be treated in isolation but integrated into broader economic policies aimed at improving citizens’ livelihoods.

“The government needs to work very hard alongside the private sector to lift people out of poverty,” he added.

While advocating greater private sector participation in health‑infrastructure, Okolie maintained that affordability remains the biggest challenge.

“We cannot solve healthcare in itself as a silo. We cannot solve it by just building new hospitals or manufacturing locally; the big question is who will pay for the healthcare? To solve this problem, we need to find a way to take away this question from people,” he said.

He proposed expanding pooled health‑financing through broader contributions from working Nigerians, arguing that such a system could improve access to quality care while generating sustainable returns.

“We need a system where there is a collective pool of funds from individuals. For instance, fifty per cent of gainfully employed Nigerians contributing 20 per cent of their income into health‑funds: these funds could be reinvested and yield returns. We need to get people out of poverty first before we can solve the problem of healthcare,” Okolie explained.

The Synlab CEO also lamented the tendency of many Nigerians to self‑medicate instead of seeking proper medical diagnosis, attributing the practice to ignorance and financial constraints.

“Most people, when they are sick, go to the pharmacy. It is a function of ignorance and how much they have. The cheapest form of care is prevention, the next cheapest is accurate diagnosis. The most expensive is treatment without diagnosis,” he said.

Speaking on technology, Okolie noted that artificial intelligence and telemedicine are already transforming health delivery by improving diagnostic speed and extending specialist care to underserved communities.

“Tech has improved outcomes. Not just ChatGPT. In pathology services, imagine the ease of diagnosing cancer—you can do that now easier and faster than before. We can interpret results quicker,” he said.

He added, “Telemedicine is also helping a lot. Imagine a doctor in Lagos treating a patient in Ekiti; it is happening. Tech is playing a huge role, especially for things that would otherwise take a lot of time.”

Okolie called for increased funding for healthcare and stronger collaboration between the public and private sectors.

He concluded that trust between government and private investors will be essential to building a sustainable health system.

“There is a lot that can be done between the public sector and private sector. One thing is trust. And we need to ask ourselves: what can we do to lift people out of poverty? Otherwise we will continue to have this problem again and again,” he said.