President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment and reappointment of new managers for some agencies in the health and social welfare sector.
The appointment is a manifestation of the President’s commitment to bring in world class standards to the Nigerian Public Health sector to commensurate with international best practice, President spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale said on Thursday.
Prof. Moji Adeyeye retains her seat as the Chief Executive Officer of National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC while Dr. Mansur Kabir is the new Board Chairperson of the agency. Dr. Saleh Yuguda is the Chief Executive Officer for National Blood Service Commission, NBSC, while Prof. Abba Zubairu is to function as the Board Chairperson.
Dr. Fatima Kyari was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN and Prof. Afolabi Lesi as Board Chairperson; Pharm. Ibrahim Ahmed is the new CEO of Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, while Pharm. Wasilat Giwa will assume office as head of the Board.
Dr. Tosan Erhabor and Dr. Babjide Salako were appointed as CEO and Board Chairperson of Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria respectively.
Prof Adamu G. Bakari was appointed as the Chief Medical Director of Moddibo Adama University Teaching Hospital, while Prof. Reuben Eifediyi was confirmed as the new Chief Medical Director of Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital.
President Bola Tinubu equally approved the appointment of Dr. Olajide Idris as the new Chief Executive Officer for the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, to assume office on February 14th.
The statement also noted that the appointments were made following careful observation and consideration of the appointees’ wealth of experience who would be saddled with the task of driving the Renewed Hope Agenda in the health sector.
“New NCDC Director-General/CEO, Dr. Olajide Idris, received his MBBS degree from the University of Lagos’ 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 Postdoctoral 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 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,” Ngelale explained.
The President expressed optimism that the new leadership across the sector will substantially raise the standards of healthcare service delivery for the benefit of all strata of the Nigerian population as his administration is committed to implementing a whole-of-government approach to transforming the sector and to enhance aggregate national quality of life and productivity.
“Owing to the high cost of historical under-performance in the sector, the President anticipates the immediate and effective implementation of new policy frameworks to reposition the sector under the able leadership of the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate,” the statement added.
