BREAKING NEWS, Tribute
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Dora Akunyili, a professor of pharmacy and former minister of information, dies of cancer in a specialist hospital in India June 7, leaving millions of Nigerians to mourn her
| By Olu Ojewale | Jun. 23, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
SHE came on the Nigerian scene like a volcano and a no-nonsense professional on a rescue mission. Brave, dedicated and incorruptible, Dora Akunyili, former minister of information and communications, was a former director general of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, who took the war on fake drugs to both the manufacturers and dealers and left them prostrate. Hence, for four years Akunyili was a nemesis to adulterated and fake drug manufacturers. For the years she was on the post, she cultivated the confidence of Nigerians in the kind of drugs being sold at drug stores. Even after she had left the commission, her tenure became a reference point on how to fight against drug counterfeiting. So much so that it could be safely said that if it was not Akunyili, nobody could do it like her. But when death came on Saturday, June 7, the former minister of information neither had the persuasive words or the strength to sustain the fight against it. She was 59 years old and if she had lived until middle of next month, she would have celebrated 60th birthday on July 14. But that is no longer important. Akunyili has left behind millions of fans and a good number of detractors to mourn her.
Since her death, a lot of condolence messages have been pouring in from different parts of the country so much so that if sweet words and commendations could persuade death to change its mind, Akunyili would have been sent back to life. In his message, President Goolduck Jonathan said he was shocked and saddened by the news of the sudden and untimely death of his former minister of information and communications. The President expressed the belief that Akunyili would live long in the memories of those who were privileged to know her as a diligent professional, a public-spirited and forthright public officer, and a person of great conviction. In a statement by Reuben Abati, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, Jonathan remarked that her contributions to nation-building while she served as the DG of the NAFDAC and minister were invaluable. “Without any doubt, she will be greatly missed,” the president’s statement said in part. He prayed that the Almighty God in His infinite mercies would grant the family left behind the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss of a truly distinguished citizen and patriot.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in his tribute, said Akunyili made a great change in the country’s crucial health sector, with her successful crusade against fake drugs. “Akunyili was a workaholic member of my administration. I sincerely appreciated her service. Her life made a great change in one specific area: the fake drugs. She was there, everywhere to fight the fake drug war, which could have been fatal if she had not taken the bull by the horn,” Obasanjo said, adding that the change she brought about in the drug industry saw her traversing the length and breadth of the world. He also described her passage as “a great loss for this country, which needs men and women of her high integrity, industry, patriotism and honesty.” Her departure, he said, would create a vacuum that would be difficult to fill.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Sunday, June 8, said it received the news of Akunyili with deep sadness. Olisa Metuh, national publicity secretary of the PDP, said in a statement: “Indeed, our hearts bleed over this very huge national loss. Our dear nation has lost one of her best. Professor Akunyili was a great Nigerian, an exceptionally brilliant academician, a consummate and energetic administrator who excelled in all assignments given to her. Dora will always be remembered by all as a fearless Nigerian, a great African and an Amazon who risked her life severally to save the lives of others with her unprecedented fight against fake and counterfeit drugs in the country. As a minister of information, she deployed her best in the effort to rebrand and reposition the image of the nation and rekindled the spirit of patriotism among the people with her ‘Good People, Great Nation’ campaign.”
The party noted that even in her battle with cancer, Akunyili demonstrated her love for the nation by making herself available as a delegate in the current National Conference, where she made very useful contributions for the stability and growth of the nation. The PDP condoled with the Akunyili family, the good people of Anambra State, the academic community and the entire nation and pray God to grant the bereaved the fortitude to bear the loss.
In a similar condolence message, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State would want Nigerians to remember her as an outstanding woman, who showed Nigeria that she was a different breed. In a condolence letter to the Akunyili family, Fashola noted that through her dedication and uprightness, the former DG of NAFDAC saved tens of thousands of Nigerian lives and that the country would forever be grateful to her for the war she waged and won against the manufacture and sale of fake drugs in Nigeria. “Even till the weeks preceding her death, Mrs. Akunyili continued to show her passion for service to the nation by serving as a delegate at the national conference,” he said.
Paul Orhii, Akunyili’s successor at the NAFDAC, said the news of Akunyili’s death was shocking to him, but with total submission to the will of God, “She was a woman who loved Nigeria deeply and dedicated her entire life up till the very last minute to the service of this great nation. Even as we mourn her untimely demise, we celebrate her life and pray that the Almighty God will grant her soul eternal rest in peace and also grant the family and her loved ones the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.”
While describing Akunyili as a regulator’s regulator, Olumide Akintayo, president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, PSN, said: “Dora Akunyili will go down in history as a consummate and passionate regulator who brought NAFDAC to limelight. She made NAFDAC a household name. She is the very epitome of commitment and diligence in regulatory affairs. She believed in being right for the right things. Her life must be an inspiration to the younger generation. She left giant footprints on the sands of time. I wish her family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.”
A similar encomium was given by Kayode Obembe, president of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, who described her death as highly regrettable. “She was a committed patriot, a relentless crusader fighting against theevils of fake and adulterated drugs, and a tactful politician. May her gentle soul rest in perfect peace,” Obembe said.
Nigerians from different parts of the world have also been sending in their condolence messages. Some of them said if not for Akunyili they would not have been alive because of fake drugs. They urged the federal government to scale up awareness campaign on the dangers and treatment of cancer. Akunyili died in a Specialist Cancer Hospital in India in the early hours of Saturday, June 7, after a battle with cancer for about two years.
Born on July 14, 1954 in Makurdi, Benue State, Akunyili grew up in Nanka in Anambra State. She had her primary education at St. Patrick’s Primary School, and later Queen of the Rosary Secondary School, Nsukka, and got grade one distinction in the West African School Certificate, WASC, in 1973. She did her degree programme with the federal government scholarship at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where she got a first class in Pharmacy in 1978. She earned her PhD in 1985 from the same university. Akunyili was a post Doctorate Fellow of the University of London and a Fellow of the West African Post Graduate College of Pharmacists.
Akunyili started her working career as a hospital pharmacist from 1978–1981, in the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, UNTH, Enugu, after which she went into academics as a graduate assistant in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UNN, from 1982-1986 and then rose through the ranks. Even while working as DG of NAFDAC, from 2001to 2008, Akunyili found time to supervise six post-graduate students in the UNTH. She was also chief examiner in Pharmacology for third M.B.B.S College of Medicine, Abia State University, Uturu. She served as minister of information from 2008 t0 2010.
As minister, Akunyili anchored the re-branding of Nigeria Project driven by the slogan, Nigeria, Good People, Great Nation. The programme was conceived as an internal process to address Nigeria’s negative image both at home and abroad. Akunyili proved her versatility in all areas of human endeavour as she also ventured into politics when she aspired to serve her own people in Anambra State as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In April 2011 Akunyili ran for election as senator for Anambra Central on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, but was defeated by Chris Ngige of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN.
Nevertheless, she was in the service of the nation until her deteriorating health condition prompted her being flown to India. Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State, who announced her demise, said in a message: “On behalf of the Akunyili’s family, I wish to officially confirm the death of Professor (Mrs.) Dora Nkem Akunyili, OFR, in a Specialist Cancer Hospital in India this morning at 10 am, Nigerian Time, after a two-year battle with cancer. In spite her illness, Professor Akunyili was unwavering in her belief in a better Nigeria. That was why she defied her condition and was part of Anambra State Handover Committee and the National Conference.
In recognition of industry and selfless services to humanity, Akunyili received more than 600 awards in her lifetime across the globe. She was conferred with the national honour of the Order of the Federal Republic, OFR, by Obasanjo in 2002; Recognised as Nigerian Woman of Distinction during the Nigeria @50 Independence Anniversary Celebration in September 2010; and as Minister of the Year 2010 by Nigeria Royalty Award, December 2010; Nigeria’s Five Greatest Living Legends Award by Silverbird Group and Vanguard Media, December 2009 and Integrity Award by Transparency International in South Korea, 2003. She was honoured as one of the 18 heroes (Health) of our time by TIME Magazine, New York, 2005, and Person of the Year 2005 Award by Silverbird Communications in 2006, among others.
As Chidiogo, one of her children, observed, it is obvious that the death of Akunyili is not only a loss to the family and the country. She wrote on her Facebook: “To many, she was an icon, to others, she was an inspiration, to me, she was my mother and all of the above. What I told her just last week stays with me, ‘I am your daughter, and you raised me, you have been in the midst of everything, mummy and that is the strength that is now mine and all of us your children. It is also the strength of a whole nation; you touched so many lives, and that is a blessing that must not be taken lightly.’”
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