The Managing Director and CEO of Ultimate Health Management Services, Otunba Lekan Ewenla, has called for a nationwide awareness campaign to ensure private-sector compliance with the Federal Government’s directive mandating employers with at least five staff to enrol their workers in health insurance programs.
Ewenla urged stronger collaboration between Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) to drive public enlightenment, stressing that companies must understand both the benefits and obligations of the policy. He said HMOs, as key drivers of health insurance, should work closely with the National Health Insurance Authority and NECA to deepen awareness and secure systematic compliance.
He explained that employers are already legally responsible for the medical needs of their staff, and compliance with the directive does not require additional spending. Firms simply need to convert the medical allowances currently paid to employees into health insurance premiums. “The standard configuration of the payroll includes a certain percentage of the basic salary as medical allowance along with other benefits like housing, transportation, and utility,” he said.
Ewenla recalled that during the rollout of the public-sector health insurance scheme in 2005, the Federal Government converted 10 percent of civil servants’ basic salaries, previously paid as medical allowances, into health insurance premiums. He argued that the same approach applies to private-sector firms, noting that “compliance with the directive does not have to lead to spending more on medicals for staff, as whatever any company is paying as medical allowance is what is expected to be converted to health insurance premium.”
He added that the mandatory-enrolment directive also aims to create a unified national database of enrollees linked to their National Identification Numbers, improving planning and accountability. Ewenla expressed optimism that increased health insurance enrolment would help curb the migration of medical professionals abroad, as higher subscriber numbers would boost financial inflows into the health sector and improve healthcare infrastructure.
“We will see many doctors and nurses returning to take up appointments. Healthcare facility operators will pay better because, like every business, healthcare thrives on the volume of patronage,” he said.
