Nigeria is connecting its health system through a national information exchange and a claims exchange, with a new office now setting common standards. Most federal hospitals already have electronic records. The question is whether those records are ready to be shared.
"For too long, our health system has suffered from fragmented service delivery and poor data infrastructure." That is how Nigeria's Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako, described the starting point, while calling on every state commissioner of health to treat the initiative as a critical enabler, with a target of delivery before May 2027 (Federal Ministry of Health).
The ambition is significant: a national system in which records follow patients across public and private facilities, and claims flow electronically to the National Health Insurance Authority and health maintenance organisations. The foundations are being laid quickly, with an approved architecture, state endorsement, a funded plan and a new coordinating office.
This guide explains what is changing, what it means for hospitals, HMOs and state health teams, and how to prepare the data. It draws on our experience at Jonda Health, where our work is turning health records from many different sources into structured, standardised information that clinicians and systems can actually use.
Figure 1. Nigeria's road to connected health data.
The Nigeria Digital Health Initiative, launched in March 2024, has three components: an interoperable network of connected digital health services, a Health Claims Exchange to track financing and reduce fraud, and a Health Information Exchange for secure data sharing across public and private facilities. It aims to bring existing platforms, including DHIS2, surveillance systems, NHIA systems, logistics systems and electronic medical records, into one national architecture, with the Ministry setting May 2027 as its implementation target in 2025 (Federal Ministry of Health).
In June 2026, the Minister announced a plan requiring about ₦500 billion over five years to build an integrated, interoperable digital health ecosystem, grounded in a National Digital Health Architecture endorsed by all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Electronic medical record adoption already averages 74.5% across 79 federal tertiary hospitals (Technology Times).
Taken together, these point to a phased build: May 2027 is best read as an early milestone for the core exchanges, within a longer programme of investment, rather than a single compliance deadline for every facility. Hospitals should watch for detailed requirements from the new national office.
On 26 June 2026, the President approved the creation of the National Health Technology and Data Analytics Office within the Office of the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, with Dr Obi Adigwe as its pioneer National Coordinator. Its mandate is to coordinate public and private digital health initiatives, establish common standards and support implementation of the architecture, strengthening rather than replacing existing statutory functions. Its steering committee brings together health planning, NITDA, the SWAp Coordinating Office, the National Health Insurance Authority, the primary health care agency and six state health commissioners (allAfrica).
For hospitals and HMOs, common standards are welcome. They also mean that data recorded in local ways today will need to be mapped to a shared approach tomorrow.
The Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 is now backed by the General Application and Implementation Directive (GAID 2025), in effect since 19 September 2025. It requires data protection impact assessments where sensitive personal data such as health data is processed, registration and compliance audits for data controllers and processors of major importance, appointed data protection officers, and adequate safeguards or prior approval for transfers outside Nigeria. Fines can reach ₦10 million or 2% of annual gross revenue (Banwo & Ighodalo).
Any project that moves, cleans or shares patient records should be planned with these obligations in mind, including where data will be processed.
Having an electronic medical record is the first step. Being ready to share through an information exchange, or to submit clean claims through a claims exchange, asks more of the data inside it.
Figure 2. From hospital systems to a national exchange.
In the records we work with across Africa and Asia, the same patterns appear again and again. Patients are registered in slightly different ways across facilities. Laboratory tests and medicines carry local names, with different units and ranges. Referral letters, histories and outside results arrive on paper or as PDFs. Programme data sits in separate systems with their own conventions. None of this reflects poor practice; it is what happens when many facilities and systems grow up independently.
AI can help with much of this work at speed, and we use it extensively ourselves. In a clinical and financial setting, though, it needs clinical review and quality checks behind it. That is why we argue that healthcare AI will not work without trusted data infrastructure.
Kenya and Rwanda are on similar journeys, which we cover in Kenya's National Health Data Exchange and Rwanda Goes Paperless.
At Jonda Health, we have spent years working with health records across formats, languages and health systems in Asia and Africa, and we know how much of the work behind an exchange only becomes visible once real data starts to move. Depending on where your organisation is today, there are three ways we can help.
Launched in March 2024, the Nigeria Digital Health Initiative aims to build an interoperable digital health system with three components: a network of connected digital health services, a Health Claims Exchange, and a Health Information Exchange for sharing data across public and private facilities. In 2025 the Federal Ministry of Health set May 2027 as the target for its implementation, and in June 2026 the government outlined a five-year investment plan.
Created by presidential approval on 26 June 2026 within the Office of the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, the office coordinates public and private digital health initiatives, establishes common standards and supports implementation of the National Digital Health Architecture. Its pioneer National Coordinator is Dr Obi Adigwe.
In June 2026 the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare announced a plan requiring about ₦500 billion over five years to build an integrated, interoperable digital health ecosystem.
The Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 and the General Application and Implementation Directive (GAID 2025), in effect from 19 September 2025, require data protection impact assessments for sensitive personal data such as health data, registration and compliance audits for data controllers and processors of major importance, and safeguards or approval for transfers outside Nigeria. Organisations should take legal advice on their specific situation.
An EMR is the starting point. To share records usefully, patients need to be matched correctly, tests and medicines need consistent names and codes, documents need to become structured data, and records need to align with the national standards the new office will set.
Sources: Federal Ministry of Health (2025); allAfrica (July 2026); Technology Times (June 2026); Banwo & Ighodalo on GAID 2025. This article is for general information and is not legal advice.
