Health
83 Lagos MDAs certified for mandatory health insurance compliance
By Iyanuoluwa Abiola
The Lagos State Health Management Agency has disclosed that 83 ministries, departments, and agencies of the state government have fully complied with the state’s mandatory social health insurance order.
The development followed two rounds of compliance assessments conducted after the state began enforcing requirements for government institutions to ensure that workers and residents accessing their services are enrolled in a health insurance scheme.
Presenting the certificates to the MDAs at an event organised by LASHMA, the state’s Head of Service, Mr. Bode Agoro, said compliance monitoring would continue, warning that those yet to meet the requirements must achieve full compliance by November 30, 2026.
“Compliance monitoring will continue and MDAs will be assessed periodically to ensure that compliance is sustained and not merely achieved for the purpose of obtaining a certificate,” Agoro stated.
He urged accounting officers and heads of agencies yet to comply to treat the directive as a priority and address all outstanding requirements before the deadline.
“All MDAs that are yet to meet the prescribed requirements are expected to obtain full compliance on or before 30 November 2026,” the Head of Service added.
The Permanent Secretary, LASHMA, Dr Emmanuella Zamba, explained that the compliance exercise followed the Executive Order on Mandatory Subscription to Social Health Insurance signed by the Lagos State Governor on July 16, 2024.
“You will recall that His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Lagos State, signed the Executive Order on Mandatory Subscription to Social Health Insurance on the 16th of July, 2024,” Zamba stated.
She explained that the order requires MDAs to demand proof of health insurance enrolment from residents accessing government services, enrol all their staff, including non-pensionable staff, display the health insurance website link on their websites and provide dedicated spaces for verification and enrolment support where necessary.
Zamba noted that LASHMA began engaging MDAs on compliance, while an enforcement team was inaugurated on January 21, 2026, to support implementation of the directive.
She disclosed that 62 MDAs were initially found to be fully compliant, while a second assessment identified 21 additional MDAs, bringing the total to 83.
“From the initial assessment, 62 MDAs were found to be fully compliant and are thus being recognised today. A second assessment conducted last month identified an additional 21 MDAs that have attained full compliance,” Zamba stated.
She added that 51 MDAs remained at various stages of compliance.
Zamba further noted that LASHMA had designated focal persons across MDAs and trained recruitment officers to verify enrolment and assist residents who were yet to join the scheme.
“However, the presentation of a certificate is not the end of the process,” she cautioned, stressing the need for continued enrolment verification and sensitisation of residents accessing government services.
The compliance exercise is part of Lagos State’s implementation of mandatory social health insurance, with the state expected to move towards wider enforcement of the requirement among residents.
Speaking on the progress recorded, the Technical Assistant to the Permanent Secretary of LASHMA, Dr. Nifesimi Akinnagbe, disclosed that no MDA was fully compliant during the baseline assessment, while 126 were partially compliant and eight were non-compliant.
According to him, a subsequent assessment recorded 62 fully compliant MDAs, while the September follow-up increased the number to 83.
“At the second follow-up, and that was in September, I am pleased to announce that we now have 83 fully compliant MDAs in Lagos State,” Akinabi announced.
He said the agency had also deployed 3,218 verification officers to ensure that residents presenting health insurance policies at MDAs have active coverage and to assist those who are yet to enrol.
“We have 3,218 verification officers, and these officers are to ensure that whatever policy you present at the MDAs, these policies are active,” Akinabi explained.
He added, “If they are not active, they can guide you to the various channels for enrollment. As I said, if you’re vulnerable, they can support you.”
The agency also recorded 25,107 registrations from civil servants, representing a 532 per cent increase from the previous quarter, while 6,891 civil servants had been trained as part of the ongoing exercise.
“We were able to record 25,107 registrations from civil servants. And I would like to let you know that this was a 532 per cent increase from the last quarter,” Akinnagbe added.
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