FG plans health coverage for 50 million Nigerians

• The President’s health agenda aims to cover 50 million Nigerians, including vulnerable and elderly citizens, within the next four years
• Dr. Emem Omokaro, Director General of the National Senior Citizens Centre, underscored the importance of prioritizing healthcare for senior citizens in Nigeria, citing projected growth in the older population
  

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The Nigerian government has committed to ensuring health insurance for more than 50 million citizens, with a specific focus on the vulnerable and elderly populations, by the year 2027.

This pledge was shared by Salma Anas-Ibrahim, the Special Advisers to the President on Health, during the National Healthy Ageing Summit held in Abuja.

The summit, themed “Decade of Healthy Ageing in Nigeria: Assessment, Obstacles, and Pathways to Transformation,” served as the platform for Anas-Ibrahim’s announcement.

She emphasized that the government’s universal health coverage initiative is designed to include everyone, leaving no one without access to healthcare.

She said, “As I’m speaking to you today as a special adviser to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, I want to reiterate to you that this is a critical stage in our lifetime in Nigeria, as we are transitioning to a new government of renewed hope and a renewed hope for the health sector.

“I would like to say that the President is committed to ensuring that we meet and realise our universal health care coverage, which also involves the health of the elderly people.

“No one will be left behind, not an elderly person or any other person will be left behind. The renewed hope health agenda of President Bola Tinubu is committed to covering over 50 million Nigerians, and most of them vulnerable, including the elderly, within the next four years, by the grace of God.”

The Director General of the National Senior Citizens Centre, Dr Emem Omokaro, said there was a need to prioritise the healthcare of senior citizens in the country.

“In Nigeria, disaggregated data from the Nigeria Living Standard Survey 2019 indicate a population of 14.8 million for older persons with a population growth rate of 2.8 per cent. Despite its young pyramid-structured population, Nigeria by 2050 will be home to 29.8 million older persons,” Omokaro said.