The Cross River State Government has tied civil servants’ access to promotion implementation and credit facilities to enrollment in the State Health Insurance Scheme, as it relaunches the formal sector component of the programme with compulsory participation for all public and civil servants.
The Head of Service, Barr. Orok Bassey Okon, announced the new policy in Calabar at the relaunch of the formal sector enrollment programme, tagged “Raising the Bar: Continuous Formal Sector Enrolment, Operation Enrol All Civil Servants,” saying the initiative demonstrated government’s commitment to the welfare and wellbeing of its workforce.
Okon said proof of health insurance enrolment would henceforth be required for key official transactions, including promotion interviews and access to loan facilities. “Going forward, if you come to Civil Service Commission for Promotion Interview, you have to show your health insurance enrollment card. If you come to Head of Service to stamp loan form, you have to show your health insurance enrollment card,” he said.
He added: “You cannot access facility in the bank if you are not enrolled. If you don’t have your enrollment card, don’t go to look for promotion implementation,” stressing that the policy would ensure that civil servants were adequately protected through health insurance coverage.
Under the relaunched programme, ₦1,000 will be deducted monthly from workers’ salaries as their health insurance contribution.
The Director-General of the Cross River State Health Insurance Agency, Chief Godwin Iyala, however, clarified that salary deduction alone does not make a worker active on the scheme.
Iyala said the scheme was designed to make healthcare accessible, affordable and qualitative for workers and their families, while commending the Head of Service for his commitment to expanding coverage among public servants. “We at the Cross River State Health Insurance Agency are poised and ready to offer services beyond what you used to know. This scheme is designed to put money back into your pocket. It is designed to bring healthcare accessible to you, affordable and qualitative,” he said.
He explained that workers must complete registration, undergo biometric capture and be empanelled with a health facility before they can access healthcare services with their insurance cards. “Empanelment simply means allocating you to a health facility where you will be receiving care with your card,” Iyala stated.
The Director-General disclosed that only about 17,000 civil servants were currently enrolled, despite the number of workers in the state public service being more than twice that figure. He urged those yet to register to take advantage of the renewed enrolment drive and enrol at any of the designated points.
Iyala said additional enrolment points had been established at the Head of Service’s office, the Ministry of Health at the Old Secretariat and the agency’s office along the Marian axis in Calabar. He added that spouses and children below 18 years were also covered under the scheme.
He also commended Governor Bassey Edet Otu and his wife, Dr. Eyoanwan Otu, for enrolling 600 aged persons for two years, as well as Deputy Governor Rt. Hon. Peter Odey for enrolling 1,000 vulnerable persons in Ogoja Local Government Area.
The Senior Special Adviser to the Governor on Universal Health Coverage, Dr. David Oshie, said the scheme was already delivering tangible benefits, recounting the case of a state civil service director who received treatment at General Hospital, Calabar, without paying additional charges after the agency intervened. He also disclosed that Cross River was recognised by the Federal Ministry of Health in 2025 as the first state with a functional Universal Health Coverage Coordination Centre.
The State Coordinator of the National Health Insurance Authority, Stanley Effa, said the initiative would ensure that civil and public servants had access to affordable, quality and timely healthcare while reducing the financial burden associated with medical treatment and unexpected healthcare expenses.
The Medical Superintendent of General Hospital, Calabar, Dr. Kenneth Takim, said beneficiaries had accessed surgeries, drugs and other medical services without paying out-of-pocket, urging all civil servants yet to enrol to take advantage of the scheme.
By Kingsley Agim
