VAM News Update

President Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday, appointed Dr Abdu Mukhtar as the National Coordinator of the Presidential ‘Unlocking Healthcare Value-Chain’ Initiative domiciled under the Ministry of Health & Social Welfare.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, who made the announcement via a statement said Mukhtar’s appointment “seeks to unlock billions of dollars of new investment into the nation’s healthcare delivery system.”

This, he said, would be accomplished through “a time-bound and cross-ministerial collaboration to restructure the ecosystem of Health Product manufacturing, Health Logistics services, Health Technology services, Health Retail services (e-commerce), Health Provider facilitation, and Health Payor reform (Third Party Administrators & Insurers).

The statement is titled ‘President Tinubu appoints National Coordinator of Presidential Unlocking Healthcare Value-chain Initiative.’

Until his appointment, Mukhtar served as the immediate past Director of Industry & Trade Development at the African Development Bank.

Before joining the AfDB, he served as the Group Chief Strategy Officer of the Dangote Group of Industries.

This followed a four-year tenure as the Chief Executive Officer of the FCTA’s Abuja Investment Company Limited from 2007 to 2011.

Mukhtar holds a Doctorate in Biotechnology from Boston University; a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School; a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and a Medical Degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

His appointment aims to achieve a measurable increase in the domestic manufacturing of generic pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biologics, and devices, Ngelale said.

He is also expected to engineer the reduction of outbound medical tourism by enhancing service quality in Nigeria while catalysing alternative health ecosystems in the country.

The President expects a measurable increase in the number of quality jobs across the value chain through enhanced FDI and local capital mobilisation, the spokesman revealed.

Tinubu also expects that the National Coordinator will bring to bear his experience and academic qualifications in the effective execution of his new assignment such that the massive economic boom represented by Nigeria’s healthcare-delivery system can move from potential and theory into reality and practice.