Suleja Hospital in Darkness Video Ignites National Outrage Over Nigeria’s Healthcare Priorities

(medical staff treating a patient in total darkness. Photo by Instagram)

A video circulating on social media has sparked widespread public outrage after showing medical staff at Suleja General Hospital attending to an emergency patient in complete darkness, shining a harsh light on the dire state of healthcare infrastructure in Nigeria.

The footage drew particularly sharp reactions when viewers began drawing comparisons to government spending priorities.

Many pointed to allocations under President Tinubu's 2023 supplementary budget, which reportedly included billions of naira earmarked for the refurbishment of presidential aircraft, the purchase of armored SUVs, and renovations to government residences with some estimates placing the combined figures between ₦40 billion and ₦70 billion.

Critics argued that such expenditure stood in stark contrast to the conditions being endured by frontline healthcare workers and their patients.

The anger was further compounded by the economic fallout from the removal of the fuel subsidy, which many Nigerians say has tripled fuel prices and worsened already unreliable power supply across the country, leaving public facilities like hospitals increasingly vulnerable to prolonged blackouts.

The presidency, however, defended the questioned expenditures, describing them as necessary for security and the upkeep of long-neglected government infrastructure.

Officials also pushed back against the narrative that subsidy savings had been mismanaged, though critics maintain that the expected gains from the policy have largely gone toward servicing debt rather than improving essential public services such as healthcare and electricity leaving hospitals like the one in Suleja to cope in the dark.