Union leaders have commended the workings of Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Programme (RIVCHPP), saying that the ordinary people of the state are the ones benefiting maximally from the programme.
The unionists, who bore their minds as panelists and in goodwill messages during the 2025 Universal Health Coverage Day celebration in Port Harcourt on Friday, 12th December, 2025, however, decried the situation where they are not always involved in the decision making processes of government programmes and activities but are only reached to help in making it succeed.
The union leaders, Comrade Tom-George Boma, Chairman, National Union of Road Transport Workers, Rivers State, Comrade Adafe Sunday Jaja, Chairman, National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Dr. Eugene Nwuzi Onwuli, State Chairman, Nigeria Hotel Association, Rivers State, and Hon. Golda Onugaru Nsiegbe, the incoming Chairperson, Mile 1 Market Union, Rivers State, all unanimously appreciated the workings of the health insurance agency, promising to liaise with them to have their members enrolled into the programme.
In her remarks at the event, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Adaeze Chidinma Oreh, represented by the Chief Medical Director of Rivers State Hospitals Management Board, Dr. Bright Ogbonda said that the state government is intentional in doing all to see that all Rivers residents have access to quality healthcare services in a manner that will not make them poor.
In her welcome speech, the Executive Secretary RIVCHPP, Dr. Vetty Agala, who announced that the health insurance agency has enrolled over 140,000 Rivers residents since it began to function in early 2024, confirmed that the functionality of the health insurance agency has not only improved the health seeking behaviour of residents but has also reduced mortality. She commended His Excellency Sir Siminalayi Fubara for his people oriented policies and Dr Adaeze for her strategic leadership of the health for all Rivers vision that leaves no one behind.
The UHC Day celebrations featured outreach, health/fitness walk, and enrolment of beneficiaries.
Idanye Oruigoni
Head, Information/ Public Relations unit, RIVCHPP.