Tinubu okays health sector reforms

President Bola Tinubu has approved the establishment of the Sector-wide Coordinating Office-Programme Management Unit, SCO-PMU, domiciled in the Office of the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare.

A statement by Ajuri Ngelale, Tinubu’s media aide, said the move was to ensure efficient, transparent, and accountable management of external grants mobilised towards the implementation of the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, NHSRII.

SCO-PMU will report to a Steering Committee/Ministerial Oversight Committee, chaired by the minister and whose members include the Minister of State and the ministry’s Permanent Secretary; Ministry of Finance; Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning; and relevant development partners.

SCO-PMU will serve as the secretariat and delivery unit for the NHSRII and will be headed by a national coordinator.

The functions of SCO-PMU include programme management, monitoring and evaluation, engagement and supervision of independent verification agents for NHSRII programmes, and fiduciary management, among others.

The President has approved the appointment of Dr. Muntaqa Umar Sadiq as the National Coordinator of SCO-PMU.

Sadiq has over 17 years of experience in public health, impact investing, investment banking, energy, and climate financing across the health, finance, climate, and energy sectors.

He has served as Head of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare; Chief Executive Officer of the Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria; Head of the Nigeria Energy Transition Office; and Private Sector Engagement Adviser at the World Bank.

A doctoral candidate (in public health) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Sadiq holds an M.Phil in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge and also holds MBBS degree from Imperial College, London.

So far, $2.2 billion has been mobilised in external financing to catalyse the implementation of NHSRII through financial commitments from various development partners.