The Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Programme (RIVCHPP), Dr Vetty Rolegherighan Agala, has underscored the central role of quality data in driving effective decision-making and improving health outcomes in the state.
Speaking at the opening of a two-day fourth-quarter 2025 data validation meeting and training workshop on Wednesday, January 20, 2026, in Port Harcourt, Agala said completeness, timeliness and accuracy of data remain critical to the agency’s ability to deliver on its mandate.
According to her, “it is only when correct and verifiable data is available that the right decisions can be made,” noting that RIVCHPP has continued to rely on data-driven strategies to strengthen service delivery and expand access to quality healthcare across the state.
She explained that the quarterly data validation exercise not only ensures the integrity of information generated by the scheme but also serves as a continuous capacity-building platform for focal persons across the state. Agala expressed optimism that the process has improved steadily with each quarter, reflecting the growing competence of the agency’s workforce.
“The more we engage, the better we become. This validation and training exercise is an opportunity for participants to sharpen their skills and deepen their understanding of how to input verifiable data that supports sound decision-making,” she said.
Agala reiterated that while RIVCHPP’s core responsibility is to provide enrollees with access to quality healthcare services without exposing them to financial hardship, the success of the scheme is largely dependent on reliable data generated through healthcare providers under the Rivers State Primary Health Care Management Board and the Hospitals Management Board.
She, however, expressed concern over data indicating that some enrollees—particularly pregnant women—still seek delivery services outside accredited health facilities, despite having access to free, prepaid care under the scheme.
According to her, such trends underscore the need for continuous data interrogation to better understand health-seeking behaviour and address gaps in service utilisation.
“Why are pregnant women still going to traditional birth attendants and churches to deliver their babies? These are the questions the data is raising, and these are the issues we must resolve if we are to achieve better health outcomes,” Agala said.
She disclosed that the validation meeting would interrogate data on deliveries outside health facilities, strengthen the agency’s referral system, address challenges around the National Identification Number (NIN), and review other benefit packages under the scheme.
Agala added that achieving expanded universal health coverage in Rivers State would require the agency to look beyond the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, which targets only a segment of the population, and intensify efforts around other insurance packages designed to bring more residents into the scheme.
Earlier, the facilitator of the workshop and Team Lead for Monitoring and Evaluation at RIVCHPP, Dr MacMoses Isaiah, urged participants—particularly focal persons from the 23 local government areas—to actively engage in the training and improve the quality of their outputs.
Isaiah, who also heads the Statistics Unit of the agency, said new data collection and computation approaches approved by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) had been introduced for state health insurance agencies, making it imperative for participants to stay updated.
Also speaking, the Head of Quality Assurance at RIVCHPP, Pharm. Bona Jonas Vopnu, charged staff to exercise diligence and professionalism in handling data, stressing that “an agency is only as effective as the quality of data it possesses.”
The participatory meeting also drew representatives from the Rivers State Hospitals Management Board and the Primary Health Care Management Board, reinforcing RIVCHPP’s collaborative, data-driven approach to achieving improved healthcare delivery and universal health coverage in the state.
