NHIA reopens enrolment portal
The National Health Insurance Authority on Thursday declared that its enrolment portal has been restored and is now fully operational, following weeks of persistent system failures that affected new registrations of prospective enrollees.
Earlier, it was reported that many Lagos residents seeking to enrol in the NHIA scheme were left stranded for weeks due to prolonged technical issues.
Prospective enrollees said they were repeatedly turned back at the NHIA office in Lagos, as officials cited a server problem that made it impossible to process their data.
Hundreds of residents who arrived at the NHIA Lagos office in Yaba spent long hours in queues over the past month, only to be told that their National Identification Numbers could not be retrieved for verification and registration.
Without access to NIN data, officials said they were unable to complete the registration process, leaving applicants frustrated and unsure of when the issue would be resolved.
The Head of Corporate Communications at the National Identity Management Commission, Kayode Adegoke, had earlier denied claims that server failures from the commission were responsible for the disruption.
Adegoke explained that several other government agencies currently using the NIMC database for verification have reported no difficulties.
Meanwhile, in a statement titled, “NHIA portal fully restored and operational” and signed by the Acting Director and Head of Media and Public Relations at the NHIA, Emmanuel Ononokpono, on Thursday confirmed that the disrupted enrolment portal has now been restored.
The statement partly read, “The National Health Insurance Authority is pleased to inform the general public and all prospective enrollees that the enrolment portal is now fully restored and operational, following the temporary delay caused by a financial process issue affecting National Identification Number (NIN) verification during the interface with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) system.
“Throughout the period of disruption, all other NHIA digital services remained available and continued to operate smoothly, including change of healthcare facilities, change of Health Maintenance Organisation, renewal of insurance premiums for GIFSHIP and other programme enrollees, and confirmation of enrollee names in the current register and related services.
“Given the critical importance of accurate enrolment to the success of health insurance implementation, the NHIA continues to adopt a careful and thorough approach to ensure the integrity and reliability of all its processes.”
The agency expressed regret for the inconvenience caused, adding, “The NHIA is working diligently to strengthen its systems and processes to avoid a recurrence.”
