Business
Healthcare REITs as a viable investment alternative in Africa – Knight Frank report
Knight Frank report indicates that healthcare REITs is another window of viable investment opportunity in Africa.

Published
4 months agoon

There exist huge financing deficits in the healthcare sector which obviously present investment opportunities for private investors as well as for private-public partnership (PPP) schemes for the various African nations.
This could be delivered under a portable investment vehicle of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) scheme that could efficiently tap into the opportunities and deliver good returns to the investors.
According to the “Healthcare in Africa” report released by Knight Frank (an International major player in Real Estate), the UN Economic Commission for Africa has noted that the private sector accounts for 50% of the health care expenditure but strongly contends that the African nations are currently grappling with an annual financing deficit of $66bn for primary healthcare.
REITs, or real estate investment trusts give all individuals the opportunity to benefit from investing in income-producing real estate. REITs allow anyone to own or finance properties the same way they invest in other industries, through the purchase of their shares/stocks.
What you should know
- Healthcare is the basic need for humans. Apart from the doctors, nurses and care-giving staff, there is a need for big, sufficient and stable infrastructures to support and fulfil this basic need.
- Most healthcare REITs specialize in various types of property sub-sectors including senior housing (primarily assisted and independent living), skilled nursing, medical office buildings, hospitals, and life science labs, etc.
- The healthcare REITs do not exist in Africa as the development of REITs is still in its nascent and fragile stages.
- The healthcare REITs, being low risk and long term investments, is considered a very viable investment alternative towards addressing the healthcare financing deficits in most African nations.
- It is being feared that the regulatory constraints and bureaucracies in most African countries such as Nigeria could be a limiting factor in establishing the Healthcare REITs.
Why this matters
- Healthcare is fairly inelastic because it is often a necessity and not a discretionary purchase. Thus most healthcare REITs have historically been known as the core holdings of most retail and institutional investors, especially those geared towards long-term growth.
- The stability of the healthcare sector means that healthcare REITs are more recession-proof and offer less risk than other types of REITs.
- With the pandemic, there would always be need for “round-the clock” healthcare services and the need is expected to grow as the population grows and could definitely lead to rise in demand for more doctors’ offices, hospitals, testing facilities, living facilities, rehabilitation centres, etc.
Johnson is a risk management professional and banker with unbridled passion for research and writing. He graduated top of the class with B.sc Statistics from the University of Nigeria and an MBA degree with specialization in Finance from Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma, with fellowships from the Association of Enterprise Risk management Professionals(FERP) and Institute of Credit and Collections management of Nigeria (FICCM). He is currently pursuing his PhD in Risk management in one of the top-rated universities in the UK.


Business
FG launches National Gender Steering Committee for Gender Policy in the agricultural sector
The policy document is a developmental strategy for poverty reduction and it is expected to empower small scale holder farmers who are predominately women.

Published
2 hours agoon
April 22, 2021
The Federal Government has announced its inauguration of a National Gender Steering Committee for the Implementation of the Gender Policy in the Agricultural sector, in a bid to offer equal access and gender-sensitive approaches towards food production.
This was disclosed by Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Ernest Umakhihe, who inaugurated the Committee on Wednesday in Abuja.
“The initiative will promote and ensure the adoption of gender-sensitive responsive approaches, plans and programmes in such a way that men and women will have equal access and control of productive resources,” he said.
He added that availability of the policy document was expected to address the vulnerability of women to biases in the Agriculture sector, integrate gender perspectives in National Planning, create more jobs and financial empowerment for women, citing that the National Gender Policy in Agriculture was consistent with the Global 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by World Leaders at the United Nations Summit in New York, USA, in September 2015.
Director, Special Duties in the Ministry, Mrs Fausat Lawal also stated that “Women, small scale holder farmers constitute about 70-80% of the agriculture labour force and they produced the bulk of food for domestic consumption.”
She added that the policy document is a developmental strategy for poverty reduction and it is expected to empower small scale holder farmers who are predominately women.
What you should know
- Female unemployment rate in Nigeria as of Q4 2020 increased to 35.2% from 31.6% recorded in Q2 2020. This is according to the recent labour force report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
- A total of 61.63 million women were in the working population (15 – 64 years of age) as of Q4 2020 accounting for 50.5% of the total working population. Only 30.15 million of these women were willing and able to work, which represents about 43.3% of the total labour force in the period under review.
Business
CAC discloses email addresses for manual submission of registration applications
The CAC disclosed that submissions through email would be pended till the deployment of the interface for submission on the CRP.

Published
3 hours agoon
April 22, 2021
The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has announced the email address for customers and the public for manual submissions, despite closing the window of submission for some post-incorporation applications earlier this month.
The CAC disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday evening, adding that submission through emails would be pended till the deployment of the interface for submission on the CRP.
“The Commission wishes to inform the General Public and its Esteemed Customer that it shall in addition, continue to accept manual submission of the following post-incorporation application through the respective email address,” they said.
— Corporate Affairs Commission (@cacnigeria1) April 21, 2021
What you should know
Nairametrics reported earlier this month that the CAC had stated that it would continue to accept manual submissions in respect of some specific processes, despite the closure of the window on manual submission of registration applications, which took place on March 31, 2021.
They said, “The Commission shall continue to accept Manual Submission in respect of the processes listed below pending the conclusion of the interface for online submission under the Company Registration Portal. The processes are:
- Alteration of Memorandum & Article of Association
- Schedule 14 (Form of Statement to be filed by Banks, Insurance and deposit Finance Institution)
- Amendment of Constitution
- Bi-annual Statement for Incorporated Trustees.
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