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KWENU Special |
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Wednesday, March 5, 2003 |
Teflon Lady @ NAFDAC
She's been credited with saving millions of lives and with moving mountains with sheer dedication to duty. Undoubtedly the Nigerian woman of 2002, she is the most beloved and most popular public official in Nigeria today.
WHO IS SHE? :::>
M. O. ENÉ
New Jersey, USA
Dr (Mrs.)
Dora Nkem Akunyili (OFR) is the Director General of the National Agency for
Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). Since taking over this
important health sector, she has fought persistently with unsurpassed
dedication to sanitize the pushing of fake medications and unclean food
items. Nigerians were being poisoned by these fake foods and drugs and
someone needed to do something seriously about it.
Enter Doctor Dora, as she is now fondly called by her numerous fans and supporters. Through her office as Director-General, she gave teeth to an otherwise moribund institution. She showed with her dedication to duty and commitment to our collective wellbeing that government institutions can and do work. The performance of such public officers as Dr. Akunyili has given teeth to the call for the appointment of women to at least 30 percent of public offices, as stipulated in the Beijing Declaration. [See Women wanted.]
Dr. (Mrs.) Dora Akunyili (nee Edemobi) was destined for greatness. As a young girl, her father detected her academic prowess and sent her to the village to live with her maternal uncle, who was a teacher. After her primary education, she was set to make the normal move to high school at Federal Government Girls Secondary, Gboko, now in Benue State. But the country degenerated into a 30-month war. She therefore attended Queen of the Rosary College (QRC), Nsukka. A studious student, she graduated with flying colors, posting the best-ever result at the school. She sat for the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination and gained admission into the prestigious premier University of Nigerian, Nsukka (UNN).
She told Thisday recently: "I was so studious that it took a lot out of my social life. Even in university, I worked very hard but was distracted by marriage though it was a welcome one because I got married after my third year and have nothing to regret.”
On her choice of pharmacy as a course and career, she said: "When we were to take JAMB, I never thought of pharmacy but wanted a professional course where I could do a lot of chemistry and mathematics. They were my best subjects and I felt giving them up was like giving up my soul. :::: I did not know that God was actually propelling me to what he really wants me to be and coincidentally, it is actually what I want to do."
With her husband, who is a medical doctor, in full support, she specialized in pharmacology at UNN before proceeding to the University of London for a postdoctoral program in phytochemistry.
Dr. Dora Akunyili approaches her job with missionary zeal. Even when many special interests are out to torpedo her work, she remains focused and determined to rid the Nigerian market of fake drugs and contaminated water formally sold as “pure water,” control the willy-nilly distribution and administration of drugs. On a personal note, she believes a relation of hers was a victim of the bad eggs in our society. She therefore remains unwavering in restoring the faith of Nigerians in the medications they take and in the packaged water they drink.
Dr. Akunyili
is undoubtedly the "Teflon Lady" among all public servants. She educates and
enforces, moving mountains with negotiations and impartial enforcement of
policies. For example, she is negotiating with luxury-bus operators to deny
mobile medicine vendors access to their buses, where the selling of expired
and fake drugs are the norm. She is so determined in her mission that only
supernatural forces would derail her from the path of purifying the supply
of drugs and food to the unsuspecting public. She said so in an interview
without mincing words:
"My coming here and not doing the work is greater than any sin in the ten commandments. I just leave it to God and put in the effort that is humanly possible. I refuse to be intimidated. My life is in the hand of God. They forget that so many people have died because of fake drugs, even my own sister. If she had had the right insulin, she wouldn't have died.
"The forces of darkness have risen up against us to distract us, to intimidate us, and to return us to the status quo ante, but I have made up my mind not to fail God, who has elevated me to this position. He is my sustenance and my defender. It does not matter what they do, they must fail. When they gather against me, because it is not of God, they shall fail for my sake. I am on the side of righteousness. God is with me I have no reason to be afraid."
See Sefy Megafu: Getting Personal with NAFDAC Amazon http://www.thisdayonline.com/archive/2001/11/15/20011115lif01.html ]
Staying the course and being fair to everyone has earned her the title of “Mommy” by her staff members across the country. Dora has become so popular and beloved by many that Sonnie Ekwowusi wrote in The Making of a Nigerian President:
"The other day I was discussing with a neigbour, a simple and respectable housewife from Tiv. Midway into our discussion she shocked me with the news that she was eyeing the presidency. You can see her vaulting ambition-from kitchen to the Presidency. Mrs. Dora Akunyili the iron lady of NAFDAC is her role model. She admires the way Mrs. Akunyili discharges her public duty with a deep sense of justice and impartiality. She believes that the fake drug destroyer of NAFDAC is a good candidate for the presidency. She will like to be like this woman when she herself gets to Aso Rock. She complains that since our independence no woman has been allowed to contest the presidential election let alone becoming the President of Nigeria of this great country. That the only political post reserved for women is the post of the First Lady. She believes that this is a typical case of gender discrimination and marginalization against women. She wants Nigerian women to stand up and resist this marginalization with the last drop of their blood. She believes that it is only a female president that can change Nigeria for good. Truly, come to think of it again, I cannot agree less with my neigbour. Why can't a woman, a housewife for that matter be voted as a president?. The Ohanaeze has been insisting that an Igbo man must willy nilly become the president of Nigeria in 2003. But the problem is picking the right Igbo man acceptable to all. The Ohanaeze can find a winning steak in Dora Akunyili. So, Dora Akunyili for President!"
[See http://www.thisdayonline.com/archive/2002/11/06/20021106com01.html]
It therefore
came as no surprise when Adebolu Arowolo wrote in the Punch of Monday ,
January 6, 2003 that Dr. Dora Nkem Akunyili is easily “The Person of the
Year 2002." Womens Rights Watch-Nigeria
(womensrightswatch-nigeria-admin@kabissa.org)
agreed. And so does everyone who has observed firsthand the restoration of
the faith of Nigerians in the medication they take and in the so-called “pure water” that they
drink. By single-handedly cleaning up the distribution and delivery of
medications and food in Nigeria and beyond, Dora has saved so many lives, thus guaranteeing that
millions of future Nigerians will be born healthy and live free from fear of
being poisoned by unscrupulous money-minded midget counterfeiters and
unconscionable cretins who could never see beyond their nose for profit
maximization, not the impact of their criminality on the society.
Among her numerous awards are:
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Merit Award winner, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Enugu branch;
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Member, New York Academy of Sciences ( 1997);
Pharmacological Society of Canada's Award for the 12th International Congress of Pharmacology, Montreal, Canada (1994);
Family Health International, USA Congress Award for the 10th International Conference on AIDS Yokohama, Japan (1994);
Pfizer Travel Fellowship for the 54th International Pharmaceutical Federation Conference, Portugal (1994),
Commonwealth Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award;
Vice Chancellor's Postgraduate and Research Leadership Prize;
Kingsway Prize for the best pharmacy student (first year professional);
Federal Government of Nigeria Undergraduate Scholarship;
Eastern Nigerian Government Post Primary Scholarship
One of the six Nigerian lady pharmacists honored at The Hague by the International Pharmaceutical Federation in 1998;
Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR)
There you have it, undoubtedly the Nigerian of 2002!
SEE ALSO: NAFDAC's Official Bio
&
VANGUARD: Dora Akunyili must not die
SUNGAI: Dora Akunyili to receive the 2004 Quintessence Award
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