Oyetola orders enrolment of 30,000 youth into state health insurance scheme

Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola has ordered the immediate enrolment of 30,000 youth into its health insurance scheme.

Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Azeez Lawal disclosed this at a a press conference in Osogbo on Friday.

Lawal said said the initiative was to properly integrate the youth into the scheme, especially those  who are out of school, unemployed, physically or mentally challenged.

He said the beneficiaries of the scheme would be drawn from the 30 local government areas, including Ife-East Area Office of the State in line with the Osun State Youth Policy Programme and Implementation Strategies.

“The present administration’s efforts in making sure that healthcare delivery is accessible and affordable to all citizens and residents of the State led to the establishment of the Osun Health Insurance Scheme (OHIS). The benefits of the scheme are enormous as the people of Osun are now able to access quality healthcare without tears, with evidence of improvement in their health.

“Nevertheless, the youths, who constitute a greater proportion of the population of the State, some of whom are out of school, unemployed, physically challenged or mentally challenged, are yet to be fully integrated into the scheme. 

“In order to address this, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, who is a lover of the youth, directed that 30,000 vulnerable youth drawn from all the local government areas of the State be enrolled under the Osun Health Insurance Scheme (OHIS).

“The enrollment of 30,000 vulnerable youth in all the local governments in the State shall be as follows: Distribution of Osun Health Insurance Scheme forms to the vulnerable youth through local government chairmen; capturing and documentation of vulnerable youth beneficiaries in each local government in the State by Osun Health Insurance Scheme Team; inauguration ceremony of 30,000 vulnerable youths into OHIS to be presided over by Mr. Governor, at a later date,” Lawal added.

He also revealed that the state government has concluded plans to recruit massively into  the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme as part of efforts to maximize the potential embedded in the youth so as to further contribute their quota to the growth and development of the State.

He said the recruitment of the prospective candidates for the Batch 5 of the O’YES cadets would kickstart on Friday (today), and that about 62,000 cadets had gone through the scheme that comprised 4 batches so far so good.

“Let me make it clear that O’YES itself is not about offering employment to the youth but empowering the participating youth to become self-reliant and possibly become employers of labour. This is where the exit programme comes in. The exit programme empowers the cadets by helping them become self-reliant through acquisition of relevant entrepreneurial and vocational skills. As at present, the scheme has about 74 exit programmes for the cadets to choose from,” he said.