16th February, 2024
By Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu was on Friday appointed the African Union (AU) Champion for Human Resources for Health and Community Health Delivery Partnership on the recommendation of the Committee of Heads of State and Government of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Africa CDC.
Africa CDC which is under the leadership of President Azali Assoumani, President of the Union of Comoros and Chairperson of the African Union said Tinubu was given the appointment based on his ambitious, innovative, and people-focused efforts in the sector.
Africa CDC announced the appointment in a letter to Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Tinubu administration is attracting global investments in Nigeria’s health sector for the provision of cutting-edge infrastructure, equipment, and world-class manpower for improved access to quality healthcare by all Nigerians.
The appointment is coming with the recent commitment of President Bola Tinubu to train 120,000 frontline health workers nationwide within 16 months and to double the number of primary health facilities in communities across all local government areas of the federation from 8,800 to over 17,000 over the next three years.
Also, the President has also promised to double the number of health personnel enrollment capacity of accredited nursing and midwifery institutions to accommodate the new demand created by new facilities across Nigeria.
Tinubu has also resolved to establish a paid volunteer youth force of social accountability officers to monitor the functioning and financial integrity of primary health centres.
With these efforts, the African Union said the Nigerian leader is the right champion for the noble and actionable continental effort.
In his new role, the Commission subsequently invited President Tinubu to address the Ministerial Executive Leadership Programme (MELP) under the theme, ‘Impactful leadership in health: a whole government approach’, billed for Saturday, February 17, 2024, at the Africa CDC Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the margins of the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of AU Heads of State and Government.