•Governor Umo Eno (left)
The enormity of this project speaks volumes of the magnitude and unlimited extent of the governor’s vision.
Beyond vision, it takes a lion’s heart to contemplate and undertake the construction of a sprawling world-class medical ecosystem that bestrides 100 football fields like a colossus across five LGAs.
Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State amazes not a few across Nigeria and beyond, with his audacity to conquer and break new grounds with mind-blowing development projects. This man, many agree, is a big thinker and a big doer.
The Ibom Medical City, the one-stop medical hub, being built on 100 hectares of land, that begins in the periphery of Uyo Capital City Development Authority, UCDA, and traverses Itu, Ibiono, Ikono, Essien Udim and Ikot Ekpene LGAs, can only come from a prolific, inventive and very fertile mind.
Or how else would anyone explain a single medical mega-project that, in one fell swoop, comprises a 350-bed international hospital, an advanced diagnostic center, a residential medical village, a senior citizens center, a medical research institute, pharmaceutical plants, and a neuro-rehabilitation center!
The Ibom International Hospital, IIH, alone, one of the components of Ibom Medical City, is a 10-story, quaternary-level care facility, which houses 62 specialized medical areas, including advanced operating rooms, a CathLab, intensive care units, and a specialized oncology/radiology center.
The Medical Village, another component of the Medical City, is a modern residential estate featuring over 100 units (including terrace houses and apartments) for medical professionals.
The Pharmaceutical Cluster within the same hub, is a manufacturing hub and park, designed for drug production and medical research.
The Advanced Medical Diagnostics Centre is a separate facility dedicated to complex tests and investigations, to service the whole of the Gulf of Guinea region and beyond.
At the same time, and in the same ecosystem, there are separate clusters and facilities dedicated to mental health, physical therapy, and neuro-rehabilitation, clinical trials, medical education, and training of local healthcare personnel.
While the Senior Citizens Centre, a specialised wellness and care facility tailored for the elderly was completed and commissioned three months ago, on March 7, 2026, by the First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, the other components of the mega-projects are on-going and at various stages of construction. The IIH, the epicenter of the IMC, is scheduled for completion in June 2027, a year from now.
The whole idea, Governor Eno told a large crowd of international audience, June 23, 2026, was to “help reverse medical tourism by delivering world-class healthcare services across critical specialties… and become one of Nigeria’s benchmarks for technology-driven patient-centered healthcare… an institution that will attract global patients… create employment opportunities, attract world-class talents in…”
Virtually all eyewitnesses, who were on ground, June 23, 2026, to see the historic official take-off of the Medical City, were left in no doubt that something exceptional is actually happening in Akwa Ibom State. Said Edidiong Umoh, alias CrownPrince, an Indigene of Ibiono LGA: “Let all those who say ‘what has Umo Eno done with our money’ come over to the Medical City and get the answer”.
One of the eyewitnesses of the official take-off of Ibom Medical City project was Professor Mohammed Ali Pate, Nigeria’s Minister of Health and Social Welfare, hitherto the Global Director for Health, Nutrition, and Population at the World Bank and Professor of Public Health Leadership at Harvard University.
A highly respected figure and voice in the global health sector, he did not mince words when he spoke about the Ibom Medical City as an “amazing vision”.
“Here in Akwa Ibom, we have a leader, a governor that has a clarity of vision…I want to commend you not just for this amazing vision but also for your doggedness, the tenacity to go get things done, your commitment, your passion for your people…I want to thank Governor Eno for his amazing leadership”, Professor Pate said.
“According to him, Ibom Medical City represents the interpretation of President Bola Tinubu’s vision in the health sector. “From where I sit, I can see the vision of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu being translated into reality in Akwa Ibom State and I can see the handshake between Akwa Ibom State and the vision of the president, that is becoming real development for our country”.
He enumerated other health programmes he had personally commissioned in Akwa Ibom during his previous visit some months ago and invited other State Governors to learn from Governor Eno’s example.
“You have built primary healthcare centers. You have built a medical oxygen plant. I’ve been here in Akwa Ibom before to commission some of those projects.
“You have recruited and trained health workers. You’ve provided the enablement, the retention program, the residency training funds, all the commitments that you have made on the human resources in addition to the infrastructure. Those are all the building blocks for a great health system that will deliver for the people and that will build a successful, prosperous, healthy State…You are already showing the way to all other States that this is possible and can be done”, Pate said.
Dr. Abdu Mukhtar, the National Coordinator, Presidential Initiative for unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (Pvac), spoke in the same vein about Ibom Medical City, describing the concept as “really really remarkable”.
“This is a big vision…”, Mukhtar, a former Director of African Development Bank, ADB, said. According to him, the Ibom Medical City has captured the mandate and key performance indicator, KPI, of his assignment by President Tinubu.
“The No.1 assignment given to me and my organisation is to increase the share of locally manufactured health care products. This is a 46 billion dollar market in Nigeria, as we import about 70 percent of all the health care products that we use in this country…The pharmaceutical cluster in this project…is very timely. You (Governor Eno) are already providing the leadership. You are already showing the way to all other States that this can be done”.
“The second KPI that the president gave us is to reduce outbound medical tourism. Nigeria spends about two billion dollars every year on medical tourism. To be able to reverse that, you need to build quality medical infrastructure like Ibom Medical City…
“So with this huge project, Akwa Ibom is assured of the full commitment of the presidential initiative…and I am appointing myself today as the Chief Marketing Officer of Ibom Medical City”.
International partners of Ibom Medical City led by Siemens Healthineers, a leading global medical technology company headquartered in Erlangen, Germany, made their presence felt at the official take off of the mega-project.
Shawky Elmashtoly, the Country Manager for the Middle East and Africa, described the project as world-class and “…the most advanced health care facility in Nigeria” on completion. According to him, Siemens is bringing a cutting-edge health-care solution into the project for patients and health care professionals.
“This hospital is particularly significant because it’s setting a new benchmark for health care innovation in Africa.With advanced technology such as interoperative MRI, mobile CT for the first time in Africa, robotic cath lab, again first time in Africa, and three Tesla MRI capabilities, the facility is positioning itself among the pioneer of modern health care delivery in the region”, Elmashtoly said.
For Joseph Zeng, the representative of Mindray Group, a China-based global provider of medical devices: “what we bring to this hospital in Akwa Ibom is automation TLA, that’s Total Lab Automation, which combines hematology, immunoscience and chemistry, along with all the lab equipment and training”.
The big picture, borrow Governor Eno’s famous phrase, is to “connect the dots” in the tourism sector by linking the entire medical ecosystem of the State with the world-class Victor Attah International Airport, (which he has recently completed and ensured the commencement of international operations), with the Four Points by Sheraton in Ikot Ekpene as well as other newly emerging tourism landmarks in the State.
“We came to serve our people and we are committed to serving them, building on the achievements of past leaders of this State; one building block after another and we are beginning to get there”, the governor said.
