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Taraba State Governor, Agbu Kefas, has acknowledged that despite the state’s 35 years of existence, its leaders cannot claim to have solved all the challenges confronting it.

Taraba State was created on August 27, 1991, by the then Nigerian Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (Rtrd).

The governor stated this while addressing the media on the occasion of Taraba at 35, saying successive administrations could not claim to have addressed every problem facing the state.

‘The problems in Taraba are many, including the absence of basic infrastructure, among others.

‘There are many communities that are yet to be provided with reliable water supply. There are also many communities that are yet to be provided with electricity, while the education and healthcare systems still need attention,’ he said.

Kefas further stated that many young people were still seeking employment, while several families continued to face economic hardship in the state.

He said some projects embarked upon by the state government might experience delays in completion, stressing the need to identify the causes of such delays and address them to ensure that the projects were completed for the benefit of the people.

Kefas also revealed that his administration inherited serious challenges when it assumed office in 2023, but said such challenges could not continue to serve as an excuse for failure.

‘We are building good systems,

we are building institutions,

we are developing frameworks,

and the next phase must be about accelerated and measurable execution,’ he said.

Kefas, however, encouraged the people of the state to scrutinise government spending constructively, saying this would help ensure that those entrusted with responsibilities remained accountable.

‘We are not afraid of scrutiny because the media must ask questions.

‘Civil society must ask questions and the citizens must also ask questions.

‘The opposition has a constitutional responsibility to question government, but criticism should be constructive and useful and should be based on facts,’ he said.

Governor Kefas also said the government had a responsibility to provide information on its activities, encouraging citizens to visit project sites to see firsthand the progress being made.

The 2026/27 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) season will begin with a Southwest derby carrying more than the usual weight of an opening-day fixture when 3SC (Shooting Stars) host Inter Lagos today in Ibadan.

For Shooting Stars, the encounter at the Lekan Salami Stadium is an opportunity to announce their intentions from the outset. For Inter Lagos, it represents a landmark moment-the club’s historic debut in Nigeria’s top flight after securing promotion from the Nigeria National League (NNL) last season.

There is no previous top-flight head-to-head record between the sides, adding another layer of intrigue to a fixture already loaded with regional significance. Inter Lagos arrive as newcomers, but not as a team merely content to fill the ranks.

The newly promoted side has spent pre-season working on cohesion through a series of tournaments. Their challenge now is to translate that preparation into competitive football against one of the country’s most established clubs.

Shooting Stars, meanwhile, enter the new campaign with considerable activity both on and off the pitch.

After appointing a seasoned gaffer Salisu Yusuf as new technical adviser, the ‘Oluyole Warriors’ unveiled Chowdeck as their new headline shirt sponsor and Bovas as sleeve partner, providing a significant commercial boost ahead of the new season.

The Ibadan club has also strengthened its squad aggressively, bringing in at least seven new players. Olakunle Alaka, Isa Yusuf, Taheer Abubakar, Albert Kovarh, Abdulaziz Dalahtu, Kalu Nweke, and Aule Johnmark are among the arrivals expected to add depth and competition to the team.

The opening fixture, therefore, offers a compelling clash of experience against ambition: a historic NPFL heavyweight facing a club determined to make its first appearance in the elite division memorable.

And with the rest of Matchday One scheduled for Sunday, August 30, the Shooting Stars-Inter Lagos encounter will have the distinction of opening the new NPFL campaign.

When the two sides walk onto the pitch today, the stakes will extend beyond the first three points of the season.

For Inter Lagos, history beckons, while for Shooting Stars, the message is clear: the new NPFL season starts in Ibadan, and the Oluyole Warriors intend to make their opening statement count.

Moruf Oseni, the MD/CEO of Wema Bank, has been announced as the Chairman of the Consultative Committee for the CIBN 19th Annual Banking and Finance Conference.

The conference is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, September 8 and Wednesday, September 9, 2026.

The Annual Banking and Finance Conference is themed: ‘Building a Resilient Economy in an Era of Disruptions: Strategic Imperatives for the Banking and Financial Services Industry.’

A statement said that the CIBN 19th Annual Banking and Finance Conference will generate meaningful conversations, provide practical insights and deliver actionable recommendations for strengthening institutions and positioning the Nigerian banking industry for sustained growth.

It added that resolutions reached at the Conference will be documented and forwarded to relevant stakeholders and policymakers in form of a communique, to aid and enable informed decision-making, policy formulation, and strategic alignment with global best practices.

Detailing the focus areas for the 2-day Conference, Oseni described it as the biggest edition of the CIBN Annual Banking and Finance Conference.

‘I am not just speaking about size. What we have curated is a strategic fusion of insightful business sessions, bespoke youth-focused and cyber security programmes and a vast wealth of solution-driven discussions that will take place in a room where all the institutions, bodies and powerhouses with the authority to action the resolutions from these discussions, will be actively present, and this is how positive change is engineered’.

‘For the first time ever, the CIBN Annual Banking and Finance Conference will feature a women-focused programme that will bring to focus the role that women play in building a resilient, inclusive and future-ready economy-a first-of-its-kind initiative that marks a defining milestone in our collective commitment to fostering transformative leadership and shaping a more resilient and prosperous future,’ he said.

Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has dismissed President Bola Tinubu’s latest promise to work with governors to reduce public transport fares as a desperate and belated response to a cost-of-living crisis created by his own government.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku described the Federal Government’s CNG conversion figures as a damning reflection of the Tinubu administration’s performance, saying the government has unwittingly published its own scorecard of failure.

‘If Tinubu’s grand strategy for cushioning the consequences of his reckless and poorly thought-out subsidy removal is CNG conversion, then the admission that only about 120,000 vehicles have been converted in more than three years is not an achievement. It is an advertisement of policy failure.’

‘Against widely cited estimates of roughly 14 million vehicles on Nigerian roads, 120,000 conversions amount to less than one per cent.

‘That is the government’s own number. That is Tinubu marking his own examination script.

‘If a student returned less than one per cent in his core subject, WAEC would not call it progress. No university would call it excellent performance. Yet Tinubu wants Nigerians to reward the political equivalent of that catastrophic score with another four years.

‘The truth is simple: Nigeria cannot afford another four years of monumental failure.’

Atiku said Tinubu’s declaration that ‘cheaper fuel should result in cheaper fares’ is equally a confession that the administration’s energy policy has been fundamentally disconnected from the daily survival of Nigerians.

‘For more than three years, Nigerians begged this government for relief. Tinubu removed subsidy without a credible cushioning framework, watched transport costs explode, watched food prices follow, watched businesses suffocate under crushing energy costs, and repeatedly told Nigerians that their suffering was the unavoidable price of reform.

‘Now that elections are approaching, and Nigerians are rallying behind Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s proposal for a production-based subsidy to immediately tackle the cost-of-living crisis created by Tinubu, the same government that ridiculed and criticised Atiku’s plan has suddenly discovered that Nigerians need cheaper transportation.

‘This is medicine after death. You cannot break a man’s leg, abandon him in pain for three and a half years, then return with crutches and demand applause for compassion. Tinubu created the transport crisis; CNG cannot now be packaged as heroism.’

Atiku said CNG expansion may be desirable, but warned that an alternative fuel cannot be presented as the solution to a purchasing-power crisis.

‘CNG can make a converted bus cheaper to operate. It cannot make a poor Nigerian richer.

‘That distinction demolishes the propaganda. Go to the motor parks. Nigerians are travelling less because they cannot afford to travel. Workers calculate whether transport to work will swallow their wages. Traders are buying less because transportation is eating into their capital. Students struggle with daily fares. Farmers pay heavily to move food from farms to markets.

‘So what exactly has Tinubu solved if the bus becomes cheaper to operate but the passenger has become too poor to enter it? ‘A cheaper bus without an affordable passenger is not economic recovery.’

Atiku said the government’s celebration of 120,000 conversions in a country with millions of vehicles is the mathematical equivalent of celebrating a bucket of water while the house is still burning.

‘A bus driver does not buy tyres with a presidential statement. A market woman does not transport tomatoes with a government committee. A farmer does not move yam, rice and maize with promises. Spare parts, maintenance, food, rent and virtually every other operating cost have risen.

‘And now Nigerians are being told to wait until October 1 before they may begin to feel relief from a crisis they are suffering today.

‘Nigerians are hungry today. Transport is expensive today. Food is expensive today. Businesses are dying today. Why must relief arrive by appointment?’

Atiku said the deeper failure of the administration is its refusal to understand that Nigeria’s transportation crisis is ultimately a cost-of-living and purchasing-power crisis.

‘You cannot solve a purchasing-power crisis simply by changing the fuel inside a bus. What matters to the Nigerian worker is not merely whether the bus runs cheaply, but whether his salary can still afford the fare, food, rent, medicine, school fees and the basic dignity of life.

‘When fuel rises, transport rises. When transport rises, food rises. When food rises, the household shrinks. That is the economic chain Tinubu broke, and that is the chain Atiku intends to repair.’

Atiku said Nigeria needs a targeted, transparent and fiscally capped subsidy linked to domestic production, deliberately designed to attack the cost-of-living crisis at its source.

‘Fuel subsidy must return for struggling Nigerians, not the rich friends of the President and multinational companies but a targeted production intervention that is transparently budgeted, independently audited and guarantees that the benefit reaches consumers.

‘We will support domestic refining. We will track every barrel. We will cap the cost. We will reduce energy costs. And we will ensure that money and relief reaches the commuter, farmer, worker, trader and small business owner – not politically connected middlemen.

‘That is the difference between Tinubu and Atiku: Tinubu manufactures hardship and distributes palliatives. Atiku will attack hardship at its source.’

The management of Kaduna State University (KASU) has appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), KASU Branch, to suspend its ongoing warning strike and give room for dialogue with the Kaduna State Government to resolve the issues in dispute.

The university management made the appeal in a statement signed by its Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abdullahi Ibrahim Musa, on Friday.

It said the intervention of Governor Uba Sani, who is also the Visitor to the university, had created an opportunity for the government, management and unions to address the concerns raised by academic staff.

According to the statement, the governor had constituted a nine-member committee chaired by the Commissioner for Education, Professor Abubakar Sani Sambo, to engage with the issues and make appropriate recommendations within one month.

‘Management urges ASUU-KASU to give the ongoing dialogue every opportunity to succeed and to reconsider the suspension of the warning strike, particularly in view of the concrete steps already being taken by the Kaduna State Government to address the issues under discussion,’ it said.

The university said it understood the concerns of its academic staff as well as the anxiety among students and parents over the disruption of academic activities.

It said many students had travelled from different parts of Kaduna State and other parts of the country to pursue their education at the institution, stressing that any interruption to the academic calendar would affect their studies, families and future plans.

‘Every interruption to the academic calendar affects their studies, their families and their plans for the future,’ the management said.

It commended Governor Sani for engaging with the concerns affecting the university and taking what it described as practical steps towards finding lasting solutions.

The management also pledged to continue engaging government and university unions while prioritising the welfare of staff and students.

‘We will continue to communicate honestly with Government, engage sincerely with our unions, and place the welfare of our staff and students at the centre of our decisions,’ it said.

The university appealed to students and parents to remain patient, assuring them that efforts were being made to achieve an early resolution and restore normal academic activities.

The statement came amid the warning strike by ASUU-KASU over unresolved issues affecting the institution and its academic staff.

Out of Nigeria’s roughly 250 million people, more than 50 million are young people aged 16-35. This demographic fact is obvious, yet its implications remain insufficiently grasped-not only by policymakers, but by democracy itself.

Nigerian democracy now stands at crossroads. On one side are the political actors who systematically extract from the system for private gain; on the other is the steadily eroding trust of citizens in the institutions meant to serve them. Free and fair elections have become as unreliable as the national power supply-intermittent at best, absent at worst. In one state, a governor publicly praises INEC; in the neighbouring state the same institution is denounced. The inconsistency is no longer surprising; it is structural.

It is against this backdrop that we approach the 2027 general elections. My particular concern with the youth is not abstract: I am one of them, and we constitute the single largest bloc of the population. Yet sheer numbers do not automatically translate into power. The Pareto principle still holds: although young people form the majority, only a committed minority among us will drive meaningful change on the issues that most affect our generation.

Nigerian youth are entering another election cycle inside a political system deliberately structured to reward sycophancy over accountability. Beyond any single election, democracy itself remains under threat for as long as the integrity of the voters stays in doubt. How can a democracy endure-let alone thrive-when citizens lose the practical ability to decide who governs them?

How did we arrive here? The answer is as painful as it is multi-layered. Governance has been reduced to a competition to empty the public treasury. That treasury is funded by taxpayers and is meant to finance the infrastructure and services that improve ordinary lives. The predictable result is that more than half the country now lives in extreme poverty, including an entire generation of young people who feel they have nothing left to lose except their marginalisation and their poverty. A generation with almost no stake in the society they inhabit is a dangerous political reality.

Yet political apathy is not the answer. Young people must move from the sidelines onto the field-active participants rather than passive spectators. First, we must reaffirm our belief in democratic processes. This election cycle should command our attention and our planning. We must be prepared to rewrite the script; otherwise we cannot confront a political class that is corrupt, self-serving and skilled at manipulation. Until we confront what stands before us with conviction and sustained effort, electoral outcomes will continue to reflect the interests of the powerful rather than the choices of the people.

We should refuse to remain permanent victims of an imperfect democracy. Those among us who are educated and organised carry a particular responsibility to reach those who are not. A significant number of young Nigerians never attended school, dropped out early, or could not afford to continue. The out-of-school crisis is not confined to children; many young adults are also effectively unschooled. The roughly 20 per cent of us with the resources, networks and education to act must treat this as a collective task. The issues are too urgent for half-measures, laziness or aloofness.

The task before us requires all hands-on deck. Our economic circumstances should not make our political voices less important. If anything, those who bear the greatest burden of bad governance have the greatest stake in changing it.

Election Day should not simply be another day of political theatre. It should be a day when Nigerian youths exercise the power that democracy gives them: the power to choose who will govern them.

The 2027 election is a golden opportunity for young Nigerians to look beyond political class and elites and ask harder. As Dr Usman Bugaje has put it, ‘2027 is a chance for the youths to take back their country’. We must come back to our senses and stop imitating the worst habits of the current political class and begin the harder work of replacing them. We must refuse to be manipulated.

The script can be changed-not through violence, thuggery or disorder, but through the quiet, decisive power of our votes. We have no reason to be afraid. With our numbers, they already know: we can.

ýThe National Sports Commission (NSC) has appointed Dr Emmanuel Ikpeme as Acting General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), following a major leadership shake-up in the country’s football governing body.

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ýIkpeme, who previously served as the NFF Deputy General Secretary, will oversee the federation’s secretariat during the transition period, while Dr Ademola Olajire, former Director of Media and Communications, will serve as Acting Deputy General Secretary.

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ýThe appointments followed the resignations on Thursday of NFF President Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, General Secretary Dr Mohammed Sanusi, and several members of the federation’s Executive Committee.

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ýThe NSC also suspended all processes initiated for the NFF Elective Congress scheduled for September 27.

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ý’A fresh electoral process will commence following the completion of the anticipated comprehensive reforms, to be undertaken in consultation with world football’s governing body, FIFA, and CAF,’ the NSC said in a statement.

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ýThe commission said the new electoral process would form part of wider reforms aimed at addressing governance issues within Nigerian football.

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ýAs part of the transition measures, the chairmen, appointed directors and chief executive officers of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), Nigeria National League (NNL), Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) and Nationwide League One (NLO) have been directed to immediately hand over league operations to their respective Chief Operating Officers (COOs).

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ýThe NSC said where a league’s COO is not an NFF staff member, Acting General Secretary Ikpeme would deploy a replacement from within the federation.

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ýThe commission said the measures were necessary to maintain administrative continuity as stakeholders, government officials, FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) work on a broader reform roadmap for Nigerian football.

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ýIt added that further directives would be issued as the transition and reform process progresses.

?In an era where socio-economic progress depends heavily on grassroots engagement, the synergy between youth-led political movements and traditional institutions remains vital. A clear demonstration of this dynamic was recently witnessed in Zaria, Kaduna State, as the Zonal Coordinator of Contact and Mobilization for the City Boy Movement (North West Zone), Mal. Yusuf Idris Gidado, led his delegation on a courtesy visit to the royal palace of the Emir of Zazzau, Amb. Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli, CFR.

?The visit served as a reminder that sustainable community development and effective regional mobilisation cannot be achieved in isolation. Traditional rulers like the Emir of Zazzau embody cultural heritage, moral authority, and continuous stability across the region. By seeking royal blessings and counsel, the City Boy Movement team demonstrated a respectful, structure-oriented approach to leadership-one that values the historical wisdom of traditional authorities while driving modern civic engagement.

?During the visit, Mal. Yusuf Idris Gidado reaffirmed the movement’s dedication to fostering unity, expanding grassroots outreach, and strengthening multi-stakeholder partnerships across the North West. Traditional leaders remain essential partners in bridging the gap between national initiatives and local needs, ensuring that community values are preserved even as progress is pursued.

?Engagements of this nature set a constructive standard for youth leadership in Nigeria. When political and civic platforms actively honor local institutions, they build trust and ensure long-term stability. The royal blessings from Zazzau Palace mark a meaningful step forward in cultivating structured, unity-focused mobilization throughout the North West.?

Some members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) have been abducted in Kogi State.

The corps members who were returning to the nation’s capital after three-week orientation exercise in Bayelsa State, were abducted along Aloma-Egane Expressway in Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi, on Wednesday.

Confirming the incident on Friday, spokesperson of the Kogi State Police Command, Saliu Afusat, said the attackers hid in a bush from where they intercepted two buses travelling in opposite directions near Ogene Zaria, around the Ogene Zaria/Onicha-Igo Junction, at about 4:40pm.

According to the police image maker, the gunmen abducted some passengers, while others managed to escape into the surrounding bush.

Following a distress call, the Divisional Police Officer in Ofu led a joint team of security personnel to the scene, where two abandoned buses-a Peace Mass Transit Hummer bus and a yellow 18-seater bus-were recovered.

However, the command said security operatives subsequently launched a bush-combing operation that led to the rescue of 11 abducted persons, including the drivers of the two vehicles.

‘Preliminary debriefing indicates that most of the rescued victims are NYSC members travelling from Bayelsa State to Abuja,’ she said.

She added that the rescued victims were debriefed and, after the necessary procedures, allowed to continue their journeys.

The police did not disclose the exact number of people abducted during the attack but said efforts were ongoing to locate and rescue those still in captivity.

The command said all available operational and intelligence resources had been deployed to secure the release of the remaining victims.

Families Seek Govt Intervention

In a viral video, a woman identified as Chidimma appealed to the government, the NYSC and Nigerians to help rescue her sister, whom she said was among those abducted.

She said her sister had completed her NYSC orientation in Bayelsa and was posted to Niger State for her primary place of assignment.

According to her, the corps member planned to spend the night in Abuja before proceeding to Niger State when the attackers struck.

Chidimma alleged that the driver of the vehicle was killed during the attack, while her sister and other corps members were taken into the bush.

She said the family had yet to receive positive information about her sister’s whereabouts and appealed for urgent action to secure the victims’ release.

Another man, identified as Chisom Ede, also claimed that his sister was among the abducted corps members.

He called on the NYSC, Federal Government and security agencies to intensify efforts to rescue those still being held.

Another social media user, @ddevilsworkshop, reportedly shared a list said to contain the names of passengers travelling in the Peace Mass Transit vehicle and alleged that the abductors were demanding N20 million as ransom.

Katsina State Governor, Malam Dikko Umaru Radda, has gifted N7 million, three laptops and postgraduate scholarships to three outstanding medical students of Bayero University Kano (BUK) in recognition of their academic excellence.

Radda presented the rewards to the beneficiaries during a meeting with them at the Government House.

The beneficiaries are Dr Ismail Abubakar Muhammad, Dr Abba Bashir and Dr Fatima Tukur Sada, who distinguished themselves through exceptional performances at the university’s College of Health Sciences.

Muhammad emerged as the Best Student in Biochemistry, Best Student in Medicine and Surgery and Overall Best Student. He received N3 million, a new Lenovo laptop and sponsorship for postgraduate training in Nuclear Medicine.

Public health is, at its heart, about protecting communities before illness becomes a crisis. It is about preventing disease, detecting outbreaks early, strengthening health systems and ensuring that the most vulnerable are not left behind.

In Nigeria, these responsibilities have evolved through successive generations of public health practitioners who have confronted epidemics, built institutions, trained health workers and shaped policies under often difficult circumstances. The establishment of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) in 2011 represented an important milestone in that evolution. The agency emerged from existing structures within the Federal Ministry of Health, including the Epidemiology Division, the Avian Influenza Project and its laboratories, and the Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme (NFELTP). Its legal framework was strengthened when the NCDC Act was signed into law in November 2018.

The NCDC’s mandate includes disease surveillance, outbreak preparedness and response, laboratory development, public health research and support to states in managing outbreaks and public health emergencies. These functions are the product of decades of experience with infectious diseases and other health emergencies in Nigeria.

From cholera, cerebrospinal meningitis, yellow fever, measles and smallpox to Lassa fever, HIV/AIDS, Ebola, mpox and COVID-19, Nigeria has repeatedly had to mobilise scarce resources and limited human capacity to confront threats to public health.

Many of these challenges are compounded by poor access to safe water and sanitation, flooding and heavy seasonal rainfall, insecurity and displacement, and inadequate financing of the health sector. Nigeria has also depended substantially on international partners and development agencies for support with vaccines, disease surveillance, institutional strengthening, research and capacity building.

That dependence has become an increasingly important policy question. Recent reductions and disruptions in international health assistance have exposed the vulnerability of health programmes that rely heavily on external financing. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported in 2025 that sudden reductions in external health assistance were already disrupting health services, disease surveillance, emergency preparedness and the health workforce in many low- and middle-income countries. The WHO has consequently urged countries to accelerate the transition towards sustainable domestic financing and greater self-reliance.

For Nigeria, the lesson is clear: international partnerships remain valuable, but they cannot substitute indefinitely for strong domestic institutions, political commitment and sustainable public financing.

The 2001 Abuja Declaration set a target of allocating at least 15 per cent of annual national budgets to health. More than two decades later, the target remains difficult for many African countries to achieve.

It is against this broader history of Nigeria’s public health struggles and achievements that we should remember the men and women who helped build the foundations of the system we have today. The pioneers of public health in Nigeria.

During the colonial era, several Nigerian medical practitioners made pioneering contributions to public health, particularly in Lagos and the southern parts of the country.

Dr Orisadipe Obasa (1863-1940) played an important role in public health campaigns in Lagos and the interior of southern Nigeria after returning from medical training in Britain.

Dr Oguntola Odunbaku Sapara (1861-1935), a Yoruba physician of Sierra Leonean descent, became particularly well known for his campaign against smallpox. His work reflected the difficult intersection between modern medicine, traditional beliefs and public health in colonial Nigeria.

Dr Isaac Ladipo Oluwole (1892-1953) was appointed in 1925 as the first African Assistant Medical Officer of Health in Lagos and later became Medical Officer of Health for Lagos Colony. He established the School of Hygiene at Yaba, where sanitary inspectors were trained, and was involved in measures to improve sanitation, vaccination and disease control in Lagos.

The history of smallpox control also illustrates the complexity of public health in colonial Nigeria. Among the Yoruba, outbreaks of smallpox had traditionally been associated with ??`p?`na, the deity linked to the disease. The British colonial administration eventually prohibited the public worship of ??`p?`na in Lagos in 1907.

Contemporary accounts also alleged that some priests were deliberately spreading smallpox scabs to preserve their influence. Whatever one’s interpretation of those historical events, they demonstrate how public health interventions have often had to navigate medicine, culture, belief and authority simultaneously.

In post-independence Nigeria, another generation of public health leaders continued this work.

Prof. Adetokunbo Oluwole Lucas (1931-2020) became an internationally recognised authority on tropical diseases. His work in public health, research and international health helped advance the development and delivery of interventions against diseases including malaria, leprosy and river blindness.

Prof. Umaru Shehu (1930-2023), a distinguished public health physician and academic, held senior positions at several Nigerian universities and contributed significantly to immunisation and polio eradication efforts. His career also included extensive engagement with the World Health Organization and other national and international health institutions.

Prof. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti (1927-2003), Nigeria’s Health Minister from 1985 to 1992, was internationally respected for his contribution to primary healthcare and immunisation. A renowned paediatrician and teacher, he brought a strong public-health perspective to national health administration and policy.

Prof. Oyewale Tomori, a former President of the Nigerian Academy of Science, has made major contributions to virology, disease prevention and control. His work with the World Health Organization, particularly in polio eradication and laboratory systems, has had a lasting impact on public health in Nigeria and across Africa.

Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, Nigeria’s current Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, is another Nigerian public health physician whose career has combined clinical medicine, health policy, global health leadership and health-system reform. His international experience includes work with the World Bank and Harvard University.

Dr Gabisiu Ayodele Williams (1937-2018) held several important public health positions, including Medical Officer of Health, Lagos Chief Health Officer and Director of Disease Control and International Health at the Federal Ministry of Health. He also represented Nigeria at international meetings and served in various capacities with the WHO and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Dr Akanni Olufemi Sorungbe, who died in 2019, was a prominent public health physician and pioneer Executive Director/Chairman of the Governing Board of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), where he championed reforms in primary healthcare.

The contribution of the late Chief (Dr) Emmanuel Ademola Smith, Chief Medical Epidemiologist of the Federal Ministry of Health, also deserves recognition. His work during the smallpox and measles vaccination campaigns of the 1960s and 1970s contributed to the control and eventual eradication of smallpox in Nigeria and the reduction of measles mortality.

These individuals, among many others, helped create the institutional and professional foundations upon which Nigeria’s modern public health system has been built.

Remembering Dr Oluwatoyin Salawu

It is within this distinguished history that the life and career of the late Dr Oluwatoyin Salawu deserve to be remembered.

Oluwatoyin (Toyin) Salawu was born on 25 April 1952 at Dr Abimbola Awoliyi’s hospital in Lagos, into a family that valued learning, service and professional excellence.

Her father was the late Dr Folorunso Salawu (1914-1990) of Shanu Hospital, Lagos, and the third National President of the Nigeria Medical Association. Her mother, the late Mrs Esther Adebisi Salawu (née Osikanlu) (1926-2019), was a retired schoolteacher and respected educationist.

From her parents, Toyin inherited a rare combination of qualities: a healer’s compassion and a teacher’s devotion. Both would become defining features of her life.

She began her education at Reagan Memorial Baptist Girls’ Primary School, Lagos, before attending Queen’s College, Lagos, from 1964 to 1968. She remained a proud member of the Queen’s College Old Girls’ Association, Class of 1968, and maintained friendships forged during those formative years throughout her life.

She subsequently attended the Federal School of Science, Onikan, Lagos. In 1971, she won a Federal Government scholarship to study medicine at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

Her decision to study medicine was encouraged by her maternal uncle, the late Dr John Adebayo Oshikanlu (1928-1971), a community medicine physician who served communities in the riverine areas of Lagos State.

Toyin graduated in 1977 with the MBBS degree, reportedly with a distinction in paediatrics. It was an early indication of the compassion and commitment with which she would later serve women and children, particularly those most vulnerable.

In 1979, she joined the Federal Ministry of Health as a Registrar in the Epidemiology Division. Her early work involved investigating outbreaks of cholera, cerebrospinal meningitis and yellow fever.

Over the next three decades, she rose through the ranks and assumed increasingly senior responsibilities. She served as National Programme Manager for the Control of Diarrhoeal Diseases and Acute Respiratory Infections, National Coordinator of the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness programme, and Chief Consultant in Epidemiology. In the latter role, she contributed to Nigeria’s polio eradication surveillance efforts in collaboration with the World Health Organization.

Between 2004 and 2007, as Director of HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections Control, she led the National AIDS, Viral Hepatitis and STIs Control Programme (NASCP) team in the development of Nigeria’s first Health Sector HIV Strategic Plan and national HIV treatment and monitoring tools. Her work was subsequently referenced in a 2022 Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) publication on Nigeria’s HIV response, and she coordinated Nigeria’s Round 5 Global Fund grant.

She later served as Acting Director of Family Health and Director of National Nutrition, contributing to maternal and child health policy at the highest levels of government. Altogether, she spent about 15 years in senior leadership positions within the Federal Ministry of Health.

Her expertise also took her beyond Nigeria. She trained and consulted in Belgium, Kenya, Thailand, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe and obtained postgraduate qualifications and professional fellowships, including a Diploma in Public Health from the Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene, London; a master’s-equivalent qualification in Applied Epidemiology from the Free University of Brussels; and a Fellowship in Community Health from the West African College of Physicians.

She worked with organisations including the World Health Organization, UNICEF, Save the Children Fund, Department for International Development (DFID) and USAID on disease surveillance, epidemic control, HIV/AIDS, nutrition and child survival.

From 2012 to 2013, she took her experience into the classroom as a visiting specialist teaching physician at Njala University in Sierra Leone, helping to shape another generation of health professionals.

Yet the positions she held and the programmes she helped develop tell only part of her story.

Those who worked with Dr Salawu knew her as a stickler for transparency, accountability and due process. She earned the confidence of donors, partners and colleagues because she herself could be trusted. She understood that public health was not simply about programmes, statistics and policies; it was ultimately about people.

Even after her official retirement, Dr Salawu never truly retired.

She continued to consult, mentor, train frontline health workers and support the establishment of nutrition treatment centres for severely malnourished children across Nigeria. Her commitment to service was not tied to a government position or official title. For her, caring for people was a vocation.

Behind the statistics, policies and programmes she helped shape was a deep concern for women, children and marginalised communities. She believed, quietly but firmly, that Africa’s development had to begin with its most vulnerable people.

That conviction also found expression in her community and faith-based activities.

She served on the Advisory Board of the Gabi Williams Alzheimer’s Foundation (GWAF), contributing her time and expertise to its fundraising and planning efforts. As Director of the BALAAH Hope Initiative for Child and Adolescent Health, she continued her lifelong commitment to improving the lives of children and young people.

Dr Salawu was also a devoted member of the Anglican Church on the Peninsula (ANCOPEN), Ajah-Lagos. Through ANCOPEN’s medical outreach programmes and as a member of the Lagos Diocesan Medical Group, she brought together her two great loves – medicine and ministry – in providing care to communities across the wider Lagos Diocese.

A legacy of service

The story of the Nigerian public health system is ultimately a story of people: doctors, nurses, epidemiologists, laboratory scientists, community health workers, administrators, teachers and volunteers who have spent their lives confronting disease and strengthening institutions.

Dr Oluwatoyin Salawu belonged firmly to that tradition.

She was not a person who sought the limelight. Her contribution was instead characterised by professional competence, quiet determination, integrity and an enduring willingness to serve.

From the epidemiology corridors of the Federal Ministry of Health to national HIV and nutrition programmes; from disease surveillance and epidemic response to the training of health professionals; and from senior government responsibilities to post-retirement service among vulnerable communities, she demonstrated that public health is ultimately an act of service.

Nigeria’s public health system still faces formidable challenges. Epidemics will continue to test our preparedness. Health financing will remain a major concern. External partnerships will remain important, even as the country seeks greater domestic sustainability. And the need for competent, ethical and compassionate public servants will never disappear.

The best way to honour people such as Dr Salawu is therefore not merely to remember their names. It is to preserve the values that guided their work: professionalism, integrity, accountability, compassion and service to the most vulnerable.

Dr Toyin Salawu passed away peacefully in Lagos on Saturday, 25 July 2026, at the age of 74.

She leaves behind a legacy of distinguished public service, professional integrity and an abiding commitment to improving the lives of vulnerable communities and children.

May her soul rest in perfect peace. Amen

Kehinde Johnson, a lawyer and sustainability advocate, writes from Lagos.