The FCT Health Insurance Bill must receive immediate presidential assent to strengthen healthcare financing and advance universal health coverage, according to health expert Shem Adah. Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Abuja, Adah described the bill as a lifeline for millions of residents currently burdened by out-of-pocket healthcare expenses. He urged FCT Minister Barr. Nyesom Wike to transmit the bill for President Bola Tinubu's assent, stressing that legal backing is critical for the sustainability and accountability of health insurance efforts in the capital territory. Adah, who represents Advocacy for Development, Health and Environmental Sustainability (ADHES), said the bill's enactment would expand healthcare access, reduce financial strain on vulnerable populations and align with the Federal Government's Renewed Hope Agenda on healthcare reform. He commended Dr Adedolapo Fasawe, Mandate Secretary for Health Services and Environment, for boosting insurance coverage in the FCT, which ranks among the top regions nationally in enrolment. He also acknowledged the role of the FCT State Social Health Insurance Scheme, led by Dr Salamatu Belgore, in widening access. Despite these gains, Adah warned that without the proposed FCT Health Insurance Agency, universal coverage would remain out of reach. He cited key markers of a functional system—better infrastructure, lower infant mortality, affordable financing, skilled personnel and strong governance—and expressed concern that economic pressures are undermining healthcare access. While recognizing efforts by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, he called on Minister Dr Mohammed Ali Pate to deliver reforms that produce visible, community-level impact. "Healthcare reforms must be felt at the community level. Nigerians should not only read about progress; they should experience accessible, affordable and quality care," Adah said, emphasizing that trust in the system hinges on tangible outcomes.
When Shem Adah says the FCT Health Insurance Bill is a "lifeline," he is not making a rhetorical flourish—he is stating that without this law, the territory's poor and vulnerable will continue to pay for healthcare with their savings, not coverage. The FCT already leads in enrolment, yet remains legally unprepared to sustain or scale that progress. That a system can show promise and still lack foundational backing reveals a pattern of treating health reform as incremental rather than urgent. If the Renewed Hope Agenda is to mean anything, it must start with assenting to the laws that make healthcare a reality, not a promise.
