The Presidential “Unlocking Healthcare Value-Chain” Initiative, which is housed under the Ministry of Health & Social Welfare, has Dr. Abdu Mukhtar as its National Coordinator, according to a Tuesday appointment by President Bola Tinubu.
The appointment of Mukhtar “seeks to unlock billions of dollars of new investment into the nation’s healthcare delivery system,” according to Special Advisor to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, who made the announcement via a statement.
In order to achieve this, he explained, “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)” would be executed.
The announcement bears the title, “President Tinubu appoints National Coordinator of Presidential Unlocking Healthcare Value-chain Initiative.”
Mukhtar was the African Development Bank’s most recent Director of Industry & Trade Development prior to being appointed.
He was the Dangote Group of Industries’ Group Chief Strategy Officer prior to joining the AfDB.
This came after serving as the FCTA’s Abuja Investment Company Limited’s CEO from 2007 to 2011 for four years.
Mukhtar is a graduate of Harvard Business School with a master’s degree in business administration, Harvard Kennedy School of Government with a master’s degree in public policy, Boston University with a doctorate in biotechnology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, with a medical degree.
According to Ngelale, his appointment aims to achieve a quantifiable increase in domestic manufacturing of biologics, devices, vaccines, and generic pharmaceuticals.
It is anticipated that he will also facilitate the decrease in foreign medical tourism by improving service quality in Nigeria and igniting the nation’s ecosystems for alternative health.