President Buhari makes new appointments in Nigeria's health sector

President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed new heads to five institutions in Nigeria’s health sector.

The appointments were announced via a statement issued on Friday by the director, press, in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Bolaji Adebiyi.

Babatunde Salako is now head of the National Institute for Medical Research.

Chikwe Ihekweazu was appointed the new head of the National Centre for Disease Control, while Sani Aliyu heads the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA.

Echezona Ezeanolue was also appointed the new boss of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency; and Usman Yusuf is the new Head of National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS.

Until his appointment, Mr. Salako was the provost, College of Medicine at the University of Ibadan. He graduated from the same University in 1986.

He is also a fellow of the Royal Colleges of Physicians in both Edinburg and London. He is also a member of an International Panel of Experts, United States Institute of Disease Control in Atlanta.

Mr. Ihekweazu is currently the managing partner of EpiAfric, a public health consultancy firm that focuses on Africa. He obtained his medical degree at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1996 and had worked in Berlin, Germany, the United Kingdom and in South Africa before he established his consulting firm in 2014.

Mr. Aliyu is currently a Consultant in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at Cambridge University, United Kingdom. He got his medical degree from Ahmadu Bello University,ABU, Zaria in 1993. He worked as a medical officer at the State House Medical Centre, Abuja and from there moved to Cambridge in 1998.

He rose through the ranks until he became a Consultant in Microbiology.

Mr. Ezemolue is currently a professor of Paediatrics and Public Health at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA.

He got his medical degree at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1995. He did his paediatric internship and residency at the Howard University, Washington DC, USA and obtained his Fellowship in Paediatric Infectious Disease from New Jersey Medical School.

He moved to Nevada in 2005 where he remains to date practicing Paediatric medicine.

Mr. Yusuf is currently a professor of Paediatrics at St. Jude Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, United Sates of America.

He graduated in medicine from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and worked in the University Teaching Hospital from 1984 – 1989.

Mr. Yusuf worked in the United Kingdom from 1990 – 1995 from where he moved first to South Carolina, USA, where he rose to become a fellow in Paediatric Hematology/Oncology in 1998.

He is a Fellow of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the West African College of Physicians and the American Academy of Physicians.