By Taiye Olayemi
Stakeholders, including Team Lead, Commercial Business at Leadway Health, Mr Oluwafemi Awoleye, have urged various authorities to tackle persistent healthcare challenges in the country.
They made the call during a media training organised by Leadway Assurance for members of the Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors (NAIPE) in Lagos.
Awoleye warned that inadequate access to quality healthcare could undermine Nigeria’s economic productivity, human capital development and broader national development objectives.
According to him, prevailing economic challenge has reduced disposable incomes, forcing many Nigerians to resort to self-medication and delay seeking professional medical attention.
Awoleye identified limited healthcare access, medical personnel shortages caused by brain drain, inadequate funding and weak investment in infrastructure as major challenges.
He also cited inadequate investment in healthcare technology and inefficient hospital reimbursement systems as obstacles undermining effective healthcare delivery across the country.
The Leadway Health executive further highlighted delays in claims payments to hospitals and a broken pharmaceutical supply chain affecting essential medicines.
He said persistent drug shortages and payment delays could weaken healthcare providers, restrict patient access and deepen existing inequalities across Nigeria’s health system.
Awoleye warned that failure to address the challenges would continue threatening Nigerians’ health while undermining the country’s economic growth and productivity.
“The output of every economic activity is a function of the good health of its human capital,” he said.
He urged journalists to amplify healthcare challenges through factual, evidence-based reporting capable of driving reforms and holding policymakers accountable for sectoral shortcomings.
Awoleye said sustained and responsible journalism could expose systemic deficiencies, promote innovative solutions, mobilise stakeholders and strengthen healthcare reform efforts nationwide.
He challenged journalists to investigate whether healthcare policies were being implemented effectively, rather than merely accepting official claims about compliance and progress.
“The media can inquire about the level of compliance on the ground. Are employers in every state actually enrolling staff or treating it as paperwork?” he asked.
He also urged journalists to examine healthcare financing, asking: “Where does the money go? How are capitation and fee-for-service increases changing provider behaviour and quality?”
Awoleye said such scrutiny would strengthen accountability while helping stakeholders identify practical solutions for building a more accessible, equitable and resilient healthcare system.
Also speaking, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Billsbox Services Ltd., Dr Monday Ashibogwu, urged journalists to embrace artificial intelligence as a productivity tool.
Ashibogwu spoke on the theme, ‘Publishing in an Era of Artificial Intelligence,’ during the media training organised for insurance and pension editors.
He said journalists who effectively deployed artificial intelligence would gain a competitive advantage over colleagues who ignored the technology’s rapidly expanding capabilities.
“Artificial Intelligence will not replace journalists, but journalists who use Artificial Intelligence will replace those who don’t,” he said.
Ashibogwu, however, cautioned journalists against fabricated quotations, hallucinations, deepfakes, plagiarism, copyright violations, privacy breaches, misinformation and deliberate manipulation.
He warned that irresponsible or careless use of artificial intelligence could ultimately erode public confidence in journalism and weaken the media’s credibility.
The Billsbox chief executive advised media organisations to develop clear AI policies and train newsroom personnel on responsible technology use and ethical safeguards.
He also recommended content verification procedures, copyright compliance and continuous experimentation with emerging AI tools to improve newsroom productivity without compromising journalistic standards.
“The future belongs neither to traditional journalism nor to artificial intelligence alone. It belongs to journalists who combine human wisdom with machine intelligence,” he said.
Speaking on ‘Building Financial Wellness: The Role of Retirement Planning’, Mrs Rahinatu Omolamai urged Nigerians to begin retirement planning early.
Omolamai said early planning remained critical for combating old-age poverty amid rising living costs, unstable incomes and changing employment patterns.
She explained that salaried workers could strengthen retirement security through additional voluntary contributions under the Personal Pension Plan, while self-employed individuals could contribute flexibly.
The pension expert said eligible foreign-currency earners could diversify retirement savings through Fund VII, which permits pension contributions in foreign currency.
Omolamai also dispelled the misconception that pension savings remain completely inaccessible until retirement, explaining the structure of contributors’ retirement and contingent portions.
She said eligible contributors could access part of their savings under applicable conditions while preserving the long-term benefits intended to support retirement security. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Kamal Tayo Oropo