Nigeria Roundup: Health insurance, CAF nominations, inflation

Health insurance

Nigerian media outlet The Punch has reported that some 277,672 residents have been enrolled in the Lagos State government insurance scheme. This information was disclosed by the Permanent Secretary of the Health Management Agency, Dr. Emmanuella Zamba. According to her, it is part of efforts to ensure all residents are covered under the Universal Health Coverage programme.

High inflation rates

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has stated that Nigeria’s inflation rate has increased to 27.33%. This figure, as reported by news agency NAN, was recorded as of October 2023. In its Consumer Price Index released in Abuja on Wednesday, November 15, the NBS mentioned that the figure is 0.61 percent higher compared to the 26.71 percent recorded in September of the same year.

Leveraging of national assets

Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Wale Edun, has revealed plans to leverage the nation’s assets to generate about £13 billion in annual revenue, as reported by Nigerian media outlet Vanguard. According to Edun, the plan will include enumerating all the national assets, introducing governance, monetising and optimizing the assets, and it will be achieved via a National Assets Register created by the Ministry.

CAF nominations

Nigeria’s female team Super Falcons has received several nominations in the Confederation of African Football Awards 2023 scheduled to take place on December 11 in Marrakech, Morocco. Unlike the men's team, the women's team has at least one nomination across all the categories, except in two categories of the awards, local news outlet Premium Times reports. These nominations include the CAF Woman Player of the Year Award, the Young Player Award, and the newly introduced Goalkeeper of the Year category.

Murder of politician

Police in Anambra State located in the southeastern region of Nigeria are on the manhunt for the killers of the Nanka Ward Chairman of the Young Progressive Party (YPP). Chief Joe Mohale was killed on November 11 by unidentified assailants after hosting the party’s House of Representatives candidate, Chinwe Nnabuife, in a yet-to-be-scheduled rerun election, as reported by the local news outlet The Guardian. The spokesperson for the Anambra State Police Command, Tochukwu Ikenga, said the police are working on vital clues to unmask the suspects.