Jonathan’s Former Minister Turns Down Global CEO Position With Tinubu’s Job In View

Former Minister of State for Health, Muhammad Pate is being reckoned as a possible name on President Bola Tinubu’s ministerial list after he turned down a global CEO position in an international agency.

GWG.ng reports that Pate was in February appointed the Chief Executive Officer of  GAVI, a global vaccine alliance established in 2000 and which has championed the global attack on vaccine preventable deaths.

Pate was only one of the three persons shortlisted and interviewed for the position of GAVI CEO out of the about 334 persons across the world who applied for the position.

One of the world’s leading experts in public health, Dr Pate first came into public service in Nigeria after he was appointed as executive director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, NPHCDA in 2008. He was subsequently appointed as minister of state for health by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. He, however, resigned in 2013 to join the Duke University’s Global Health Institute, where he served as a visiting professor and also taught comparative health systems to postgraduate students.

A World Bank technocrat on public health, he had served as Director of the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF) at the World Bank Group before his present position as Professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard University.

GWG.ng reports that Pate was supposed to take up his new position at GAVI on August 3, 2023 following the announcement of his appointment last February.

However, GAVI announced on Monday, June 26, 2023 that Pate has now declined the appointment.

In a terse statement, GAVI said that it had now decided to appoint David Marlow, currently Gavi’s Chief Operating Officer, to the position of Interim Chief Executive Officer, effective 3 August.

The development came after Pate gave notice of his decision to decline the appointment.

GAVI said:

“Mr Pate informed the Gavi Board Chair and Vice Chair that he has taken an incredibly difficult decision to accept a request to return and contribute to his home country, Nigeria.”

“Gavi fully respects the decision and wishes Mr Pate the very best for the future. On informing Gavi, Mr Pate thanked the Chair of the Gavi Board, José Manuel Barroso, the diverse set of Gavi Board members and partners, current CEO Seth Berkley, and the secretariat staff for their support over the last few months, commenting that he will remain a steadfast champion of the Gavi mission.”

GWG.ng reports that the decision of President Tinubu to go for Pate would underscore claims by his aides of the president determination to fetch technocrats to run the critical areas of government.

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