- Fed Govt partners UK to build capacity of health workforce
President Bola Tinubu has approved new appointments and reappointments of the board chairmen and chief executive officers for agencies under the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
A statement yesterday in Abuja by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Ajuri Ngelale, said President Tinubu’s action was “in furtherance of his determination to bring world-class standards to the Nigerian public health administration and to manifest his commitment to deliver affordable and quality care to all Nigerians under governance and regulatory frameworks commensurate with international best practice”.
The appointment under the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) includes board chairperson, Dr. Mansur Kabir, and the Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Moji Adeyeye.
For the National Blood Service Commission (NBSC), its board chairperson is Prof. Abba Zubairu and the Chief Executive Officer is Dr. Saleh Yuguda.
The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) has Prof. Afolabi Lesi as the board chairman, while the Chief Executive Officer is Dr. Fatima Kyari.
The board chairperson of the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) is Wasilat Giwa and Ibrahim Ahmed is the Chief Executive Officer, while the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) has Dr. Babajide Salako as the board chairman while the Chief Executive Officer is Dr. Tosan Erhabor.
The Chief Medical Director/CEO of Moddibo Adama University Teaching Hospital in Yola (MAUTH) is Prof. Adamu G. Bakari, and Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital at Irrua (ISTH) in Edo State has Prof. Reuben Eifediyi as the Chief Medical Director/CEO.
President Tinubu also approved the appointment of Dr. Olajide Idris as the new Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). He is to assume office on Monday, February 19.
“Moreover, it is pertinent to note that President Tinubu has painstakingly considered the wealth of experience of each qualified and aforementioned Nigerian, who will be tasked with driving his Renewed Hope Agenda in the sector, some details of which include the following:
“New NCDC Director-General/CEO, Dr. Olajide Idris, received his MBBS degree from the University of Lagos (UNILAG) College of Medicine, after which he obtained a Master’s degree in Public Health (MPH) from the Ivy League’s Yale University in Connecticut, United States of America. He would go on to serve as the Commissioner of Health in Lagos State from 2007 to 2019, after serving as the Permanent Secretary in the Lagos State Ministry of Health from 1999 to 2007.
“New NBSC Chairperson, Prof. Abba Zubairu, PhD, has served as the Medical Director of the world-leading Mayo Clinic in the United States of America, following a long career in which he served as a Resident Doctor at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) Hospital as a Post-Doctoral Fellow, and undertook a Clinical Fellowship at the Harvard Medical School’s Transfusion Medicine Programme during which he obtained a Master’s degree in Clinical Science at the same institution.
“New MDCN CEO, Dr. Fatima Kyari, PhD, is a renowned ophthalmologist and Fellow of the Nigeria Academy of Medicine (FNAMed) who obtained an MBBS degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, after which she obtained a Master’s degree in Public Health (MPH) from the University of London’s School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine before she obtained a Doctorate degree in Public Health from the same institution.
“The President expects that the new leadership across this critical human development sector will substantially raise the standards of healthcare service delivery for the exclusive benefit of all strata of the Nigerian population as his administration is committed to implementing a whole-of-government approach to transforming the sector to enhance aggregate national quality of life and productivity,” the statement said.
Also, the Federal Government has partnered the United Kingdom (UK) to build the capacity of healthcare practitioners in Nigeria, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, has said.
Pate announced this at the inauguration of the Global Health Workforce Programme (GHWP) yesterday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that GHWP is funded by the UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and managed by the Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET).
Represented by the Director of Health Planning, Research and Statistics in the ministry, Dr. Chris Isokponwu, the minister said the programme has the potential to align with the national health workforce strengthening agenda.
According to him, the GHWP will play a crucial role in addressing Nigeria’s health workforce challenges, under the management of THET.