Abuja, Nigeria (Commonwealth Union)_ Prof. Mohammed Sambo, Director General of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), has guaranteed the international health policy community that the NHIA Act, which was recently signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, will speed up the nation’s efforts to provide all Nigerians with access to low-cost and high-quality healthcare within the estimated time frame. According to the agency’s official 10-year strategic plan, Universal Health Coverage is projected to be achieved by the year 2030. This guarantee was provided by Sambo at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, often known as The Chatham House, in London.
In a study titled Institutional Leadership for Universal Health Coverage in Nigeria, Sambo highlighted that the Act provides the legal muscle to rapidly increase coverage by making health insurance compulsory for all Nigerians and legal residents, and that this remained as the single most major obstacle to achieve Universal Health Coverage prior to the enactment of the Act. According to the study, “Studies have shown globally that it is difficult, anywhere in the world, for universal health coverage to be achieved without the element of legal mandatories. Every developed nation where all her citizens have access to basic health insurance compulsion is not lacking.”
Looking back on the history of health in Nigeria, the health insurance chief traced the 23-year path of the frontline health insurance regulator from a former unsteady organization to the current trusted institution, highlighting that the reforms started three years ago when he assumed office were beginning to have a significant impact on the entire ecosystem. Anchored by a three-point rebranding strategy consisting of Restoring a value system to turn the business into a results-driven agency and to speed up the drive towards achieving Universal Health Coverage, Sambo stated that the changes undertaken had provided stability, unity of purpose, and development towards a decentralized ecosystem, and that with the establishment of a firm foundation, the superstructure held the good possibilities of subnational growth.
