Tinubu approves leadership changes in health, social welfare sector

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment and reappointment of the Board Chairpersons and Chief Executive Officers in the health and social welfare sector.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

The affected changes are the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC): Board Chairperson, Dr Mansur Kabir; Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Moji Adeyeye.

The board of the National Blood Service Commission (NBSC) are Board Chairperson, Prof. Abba Zubairu and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Saleh Yuguda.

The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) has the Board Chairperson as Prof. Afolabi Lesi and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Fatima Kyari.

For the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN): The Board Chairperson is Wasilat Giwa and Chief Executive Officer, Ibrahim Ahmed.

The Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) has the Board Chairperson as Dr Babajide Salako and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tosan Erhabor.

The Moddibo Adama University Teaching Hospital, Yola (MAUTH), has Chief Medical Director/CEO as Prof. Adamu G. Bakari

The Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua (ISTH), has Chief Medical Director/CEO as Prof. Reuben Eifediyi.

Tinubu said that this is in furtherance of his determination to bring world class standards to Nigerian public health administration.

He said it was also to manifest his commitment to deliver affordable and quality care to all Nigerians under governance and regulatory frameworks commensurate with international best practice.

Other organisations affected by new appointments and reappointments are: The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), with Director-General/CEO as Dr. Olajide Idris.

The President added that the changes were due to painstaking consideration of the wealth of experience of each qualified and aforementioned Nigerian, who will be tasked with driving his Renewed Hope Agenda in the sector.

The 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 from the Ivy League’s Yale University in Connecticut, United States of America.

He also served as the Commissioner for 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.

The 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.

This followed 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.

The new MDCN CEO, Dr Fatima Kyari, PhD, is a renowned ophthalmologist and Fellow of the Nigeria Academy of Medicine (FNAMed).

She obtained an MBBS degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, as well as 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.

The President expected that the new leadership across this critical human development sector would raise the standards of healthcare service delivery for the exclusive benefit of all strata of the Nigerian population.

He said his administration was committed to implementing a whole-of-government approach to transforming the sector to enhance aggregate national quality of life and productivity.

The President also anticipated 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.