Tinubu sacks top government official, names replacement

President Bola Tinubu has sacked Director-General for the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Prof. Ifedayo Adetifa.

He appointed Dr. Olajide Idris as replacement.

Idris assumes office on February 19, 2024.

The president also named Dr. Mansur Kabir as the new Chairman of the board of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control and reappointed its Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Moji Adeyeye.

Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, announced the appointments in a statement on Thursday titled ‘President Tinubu approves leadership changes in health and social welfare sector.’

The President approved the appointment and reappointment of board chairpersons and Chief Executive Officers for eight agencies under the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.

They include Prof. Abba Zubairu and Dr. Saleh Yuguda as board chairperson and CEO, respectively for the National Blood Service Commission; Prof. Afolabi Lesi and Dr. Fatima Kyari as board chairperson and CEO, respectively for the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria; Wasilat Giwa and Ibrahim Ahmed as board chairperson and CEO, respectively for the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria and Dr. Babajide Salako and Dr. Tosan Erhabor as Board Chairperson and CEO, respectively, of the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria.

He also appointed Prof. Adamu Bakari as Chief Medical Director of Moddibo Adama University Teaching Hospital, Yola, Adamawa State, and Prof. Reuben Eifediyi as CMD of the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Edo State.

The appointments are “in furtherance of his determination to bring world-class standards to 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,” said Ngelale.

New NCDC Chief, 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 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, has served as the Medical Director of the 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 Hospital as a Post-Doctoral Fellow.

He 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, Kyari, is an ophthalmologist and Fellow of the Nigeria Academy of Medicine 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. She also obtained a Doctorate in Public Health from the same institution.

Ngelale noted that the President expects the new leadership to “substantially raise the standards of healthcare service delivery for the exclusive benefit of all strata of the Nigerian population.”

Owing to the high cost of historical underperformance in the health 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 Pate,” the statement read.