From Victor Osula, Abuja
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved 17 underwriting firms to provide group life insurance for the President, his Vice, Kashim Shettima, the Ministers, as well as the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.
The Head of Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, disclosed this to State House Correspondents after the Council meeting chaired on Monday by President Bola Tinubu.
She said the scheme underscores the importance the President places on the welfare of workers, especially federal civil servants.
“I have the privilege to present the approval of the Federal Executive Council as regards the Group Life Assurance Scheme. This scheme underscores the importance that President Bola Tinubu’s Administration has placed on the welfare of staff, specifically the welfare of the federal public servant.
“The Group Life Insurance Scheme is a scheme whereby the federal government has taken out a life policy on each public servant. And this means that if the unfortunate incident of death occurs, the deceased public servant’s next of kin stands to have a benefit to help the family cushion the family at that time of loss.
“This year, the group life assurance scheme covers key government officials, comprising Mr President, the Vice President, the Chief of Staff, the secretary to the government of the Federation, Honorable Ministers, the head of the civil service of the Federation, permanent secretaries and staff of federal government ministries and Treasury funded agencies. That is the extra ministerial departments and agencies as well.
“The scheme also covers the prime military agencies such as the Nigerian Immigration Service, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Nigerian Correctional Service, the federal fire service, the federal road safety corps, the national drug law enforcement agency and the Office of the National Security Adviser.
“The Group Life Insurance Scheme is an annual one, and today’s approval was for the 2025/2026 policy year. The policy would commence from the date of payment of the premium to the underwriters in line with the no-premium, no-cover policy.
“I just like to quickly take you through. I would like to just quickly take you through the actual approval for today. The approval for today was for the appointment of 17 insurance underwriters for the group life insurance cover and for the year 2025/2026, as I had earlier mentioned.
“The premium is paid to the insurance companies for The duration of 12 months. So this policy will expire next year. I just like to say that in as inasmuch as this policy has existed throughout this administration and even previous administrations, we find that not too many people know about the policy, and so we have, from my office, even planned to carry out a sensitisation, which will be coming up very soon.
“But I’m so happy to be given the opportunity today to talk about this policy, and I ask that, please, it would be very good to give this wide coverage, because this policy affects every public servant, including most of you seated here.
“So on this note, I’d like to thank you and to say that this administration has placed the welfare of the public servant very highly, so that no disease public officers’ family should be left without succour”, she said
The Council also on Monday approved the creation of a medi-pool system, Medipool, designed to lower drug prices, enhance the availability of medicines and support the growth of local pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Ali Pate, told State House Correspondents that the Medipool is a group purchasing organisation for competitive pricing and to be a supplier of essential medicines and healthcare products across Nigeria.
Pate said the approval aligns with broader government efforts, including an executive order to remove VAT and import tariffs on pharmaceutical inputs, to support local production and ensure fair pricing of essential medicines.
This initiative involves bulk purchasing of Nigerian-made medications and diagnostic kits, which is expected to lower prices and make essential drugs more affordable and accessible to Nigerians, while also encouraging the growth of the domestic pharmaceutical industry.
