FCT HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT SECRETARIAT AGAIN SURPASSES MINISTERIAL DELIVERABLES FOR HEALTH INSURANCE ENROLLMENT
By: Nasiru Muhammed and David Barau
For the second year running, the health services and environment secretariat, through the FCT Health Insurance Scheme (FHIS), has surpassed the annual Ministerial deliverables enrolment target, which is 25,000 enrolments per annum of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the present administration.
This is after surpassing the 2024 targets with over 11000 enrollments.
The Permanent Secretary, Health Services and Environment Secretariat (HSES), Dr. Baba-Gana Adam, made this known during the Free Medical Outreach and Market sensitization in Commemoration of the 2025 Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day, with the theme “Unaffordable health costs?… We’re sick of it”, at the Garki International market, Abuja.
The Permanent Secretary appreciated the FCT Health Insurance Scheme’s (FHIS) dedication toward increasing and revalidating the numbers of enrollees and also taking the Scheme to the nook and cranny of the Federal Capital Territory.
He said “I am delighted to report that the FHIS has once again surpassed the annual Ministerial Deliverables enrollment target of 25,000 residents per annum under the Renewed Hope Agenda. Through collaboration with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), the Scheme successfully revalidated and enrolled 69,512 beneficiaries with valid NIN’s. Significantly, over 33,000 of these are new vulnerable beneficiaries, surpassing the 2025 target by more than 8,000 vulnerable persons and a total of 16,058 (64% of annual target) additional enrollments as of November 2025. This accomplishment is highly commendable, and I applaud the Ag. Director of FHIS, Dr. Salamatu Belgore, and her dedicated team.”
Dr. Adam further commended the FHIS for its outstanding work in intensifying community sensitization, deepening stakeholder engagement, and prioritizing community-based interventions.
“These efforts bring us closer to our goal of ensuring that every resident of the FCT has reliable access to affordable and quality healthcare.”
He encouraged the traders, shop owners, artisans, and also customers to take full advantage of the FCT Health Insurance Scheme, emphasizing that good health is the foundation of productivity and well-being.
“Markets like this are vibrant economic hubs. Yet, the traders, artisans, laborers, and daily customers who sustain them often have limited time or opportunity to access routine medical care. It is therefore our duty to bring essential services to them where they live and work.” PS explained
In her welcome address, earlier, the Ag. Director, FCT Health Insurance Scheme, Dr. Salamatu Belgore, highlighted the free medical outreach offering screenings for diabetes, hypertension, and minor ailments as a means to build trust and demonstrate that health insurance is a shield against financial shock, and was not a luxury.
She added that the outreach in commemoration of the 2025 UHC was not only held in garki market alone, but is also held in the 6 area councils of the FCT across the major motor parks.
“This exercise is not only happening here in Garki Market. As I’m speaking to you now, our other colleagues are in different motor-parks and engaging stakeholders in town hall meetings across the six area councils of the FCT, doing the same thing we are doing at this moment,” she said.
She stressed the need for more residents to adopt health insurance as a buffer against rising medical expenses, saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, no one plans to fall ill. Illness often comes unannounced, and when it does, the cost of care should not determine who lives well and who suffers. Health insurance is not a luxury; it is a shield against financial shock.”
Belgore said the market outreach was meant to build trust, correct misconceptions, and demonstrate that the insurance scheme works, particularly for low-income groups.
The outreach featured free screening for diabetes and hypertension, treatment of minor ailments, early detection for non-communicable diseases, and on-the-spot sensitisation and enrolment for uninsured residents.
Some beneficiaries of the scheme, Mrs. Ruth Samuel, Amaefule Chibuzor, and Sa’adatu Abubakar, narrated how health insurance came through for them at the most trying time of their health needs.
