A former Commissioner for Health in Lagos State, Dr. Olajide Idris has been appointed as Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). He replaces Ifedayo Adetifa, who was appointed September 2021 to succeed Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu.
Idris will assume office on 19th February 2024.
In a statement on Thursday by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, other appointments were made by President Bola Tinubu in the public health surveillance and security architecture.
The President also appointed Dr. Mansur Kabir as Chairman of the Board of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), while he reinforced the re-appointment of the Director General/Chief Executive Officer: Prof. Moji Adeyeye. On 22nd December 2022, the then President Muhammadu Buhari reappointed Adeyeye for a second tenure of five years.
Other appointments include:
National Blood Service Commission: Board Chairperson, Prof. Abba Zubairu; Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Saleh Yuguda
Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria: Board Chairperson, Prof. Afolabi Lesi; Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Fatima Kyari
Pharmacy Council of Nigeria: Board Chairperson: Pharm. Wasilat Giwa; Chief Executive Officer: Pharm. Ibrahim Ahmed
Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria: Board Chairperson: Dr. Babajide Salako; Chief Executive Officer: Dr. Tosan Erhabor
Moddibo Adama University Teaching Hospital, Yola: Chief Medical Director/CEO: Prof. Adamu G. Bakari
Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua: Chief Medical Director/CEO: Prof. Reuben Eifediyi
The statement by the President’s spokesperson further read: “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’ 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. Owing to the high cost of historical underperformance 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”.
