©Afreepress-(Lomé, August, 31, 2017)- Togo and the insurance company, NSIA have decided to set up a "health insurance program" for the pupils and students of the public schools of Togo. An initiative that Togo wants to see come to reality the next school year. The Head of State, Faure Gnassingbé, received the Chairman and CEO of NSIA Insurance, the Ivorian Jean Kacou DIAGOU on Wednesday.

NSIA assurances and OGAR Assurances, which are the two selected companies, have committed themselves to the government to offer contracts at competitive prices to insured young people and to react effectively to claims. Their mission will be to provide health and civil liability coverage for the two million (2,000,000) students in Togo. A budget of CFA 3.5 billion is foreseen for the implementation of this program. This social protection will ensure the payment of compensation in case of disability and the reimbursement of medical expenses.

"School Assur", which is a free insurance program offered by the President of the Republic, according to Mr. Jean Kacou Diagou, " is a project that has not been seen anywhere in the countries of the western sub- Africa".

"The Head of State invited us to meet him to discuss the contract of the new project of insurance that the State wanted to put in place to cover all the pupils of the public schools of Togo," said the president of NSIA. He welcomed the choice made on his company and on OGAR Insurance.

According to the Minister of Health, Moustafa Mijiyawa, there is talk of an automatic coverage program for all students and school children in Togo.

This project is part of a process of inclusion and development initiated since 2010 by the Togolese government and intended mainly to remove a large part of the population from poverty. After the "first successes" of this policy, the government wishes to offer models of social protection for school children, for the pupils in school are the living force of the nation and are brought to the end of their journey to be the actors of the life of the country, added the Minister of Health.

A signing ceremony of the agreement between the Togolese State and the two companies took place on the evening of Wednesday 30th August, 2017 at the Radisson Blu du 2 Février hotel in Lomé.

Patricia I.