By ISMAIL ABDULAZIZ

President Bola Tinubu has been appointed as the African Union (AU) Champion for Human Resources for Health and Community Health Delivery Partnership.

The Presidential spokesman, Chief Ajuri Ngelale, said that the appointment was made in the light of the Nigerian leader’s ambitious, innovative, and people-focused efforts in the health sector.

He said that the AU also recognised Tinubu’s commitment 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.

“(The body identified) his doubling of health personnel enrolment capacity from accredited nursing and midwifery institutions to accommodate the new demand created by new facilities across Nigeria, and his resolve to establish a paid volunteer youth force of social accountability officers to monitor the operational functioning and financial integrity of primary health centres,” he said.

Ngelale said that the announcement was made in a letter by the Commission of the African Union (Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention— Africa CDC) to Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“(It) said President Tinubu was appointed on the recommendation of the Committee of Heads of State and Government of Africa CDC, under the leadership of His Excellency, President Azali Assoumani, President of the Union of Comoros and Chairperson of the African Union.”

The Presidential spokesman said in his new role, the Commission had invited Tinubu to address the Ministerial Executive Leadership Programme (MELP) under the theme, ‘Impactful leadership in health: a whole government approach’.

“The programme is billed for Saturday, February 17, 2024, at the Africa CDC Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the margins of the 37^th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of AU Heads of State and Government.”

Ngelale said that the Tinubu administration was 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 Nigerians. (NAN)

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