The Cross River State Government has introduced a new policy requiring civil servants to enrol in the state’s health insurance scheme before accessing certain loan facilities or completing promotion-related processes.
The Head of Service, Bassey Okon, announced the policy in Calabar during the relaunch of the formal sector enrolment programme tagged, “Raising the Bar: Continuous Formal Sector Enrolment, Operation Enrol All Civil Servants.”
Under the new arrangement, civil servants will be required to present evidence of health insurance enrolment during promotion interviews, processing of promotion implementation and submission of loan documents for approval.
Okon said the measure was aimed at encouraging more workers to obtain health coverage and reducing the financial burden associated with medical expenses.
He said, “Going forward, if you come to the Civil Service Commission for Promotion Interview, you have to show your health insurance enrollment card.”
The requirement also applies to workers seeking loan-related approvals from the Office of the Head of Service, who will be expected to present their health insurance cards.
The state government currently requires workers to contribute N1,000 monthly to the health insurance scheme, with coverage extending to their spouses and children below 18 years.
However, the Director-General of the Cross River State Health Insurance Agency, Godwin Iyala, clarified that salary deductions alone do not activate a worker’s health insurance coverage.
According to him, workers must complete registration, undergo biometric capture and be assigned to a designated healthcare facility before they can access medical services under the scheme.
Iyala disclosed that only about 17,000 civil servants were currently enrolled, indicating that a significant number of workers were yet to join the programme.
To improve accessibility, he said additional registration centres had been established at the Head of Service’s office, the Ministry of Health at the Old Secretariat and the health insurance agency’s office around the Marian axis in Calabar.
The agency said the initiative was designed to make healthcare more affordable and accessible to civil servants and their families while reducing the financial impact of unexpected medical bills.
The Senior Special Adviser to the Governor on Universal Health Coverage, David Oshie, said beneficiaries were already receiving treatment through the scheme without additional out-of-pocket payments.
He cited the case of a state civil service director who received treatment at the General Hospital, Calabar, after intervention by the health insurance agency.
Oshie also stated 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 wider enrolment would help protect civil servants from financial shocks arising from unexpected healthcare expenses.
The state government’s latest move therefore places health insurance enrolment at the centre of key employment-related processes for civil servants, as Cross River intensifies efforts to expand health coverage across its public workforce.
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