Nigeria’s journey towards universal health coverage has often been slowed by familiar barriers: low insurance penetration, high out-of-pocket spending, weak trust in public systems, and the difficulty of reaching poor and vulnerable households before illness pushes them deeper into poverty.
Yet Kano State is showing that these barriers are not insurmountable. They can be overcome when policy is matched with disciplined execution, community presence, and leadership that treats health insurance not as paperwork, but as protection for real people.
At the centre of this progress is the Kano State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency, led by Dr Rahila Aliyu Muktar.
In three years, the agency has moved from promise to measurable impact. Total enrolment increased from 497,262 in June 2023 to 1,187,119 by May 2026, a 139 per cent increase that brought more than one million Kano residents under health insurance coverage. This is more than a routine administrative achievement. It signals that Kano has built one of Nigeria’s most dynamic state health insurance systems, and the evidence is striking.
Under the Basic Health Care Provision Fund gateway, Kano expanded primary healthcare-linked coverage from 108,664 beneficiaries to 580,484 beneficiaries, representing a 434 per cent increase.
