By Christiana Ekpa
The House of Representatives has urged President Bola Tinubu to allocate savings from fuel subsidy removal to enrol Nigerians in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
This resolution was a sequel to a motion moved by Bashiru Dawodu, a lawmaker from Lagos State.
Moving his motion, Dawodu said the health insurance scheme under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is yet to cover vulnerable Nigerians as only 5 million have been enrolled under the scheme.
He stated that N50 billion could enroll 5 million Nigerians into the scheme, hence, the government should allocate savings from the subsidy removal.
President Tinubu had on May 29 removed fuel subsidy and promised to allocate the savings into healthcare, education, infrastructure and other investments.
The lawmaker said the savings from the subsidy removal would help in registering vulnerable Nigerians into the scheme.
He said: “In 2022, NNPC spent N4 Trillion ($9.7B) on fuel subsidy and N3.6 Trillion in 6 months of 2023.
“It costs about N5 Billion to cover 5 Million persons annually at the rate of NI 5,000 per person.”
The motion was taken without debate and ordered the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to ensure implementation and monitoring
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