NHIS Marks 20th Anniversary as New ES, Sambo Resumes

As the National Health Insurance Scheme marks her 20th anniversary, President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Professor Mohammed Sambo as the new Executive Secretary.

Sambo who is a Professor of Health Policy and Management, has a huge academic and operational interest in Health Care Financing.

Until his appointment, he was the Provost, College of Medicine, Kaduna State University.

As an academic and a technocrat, Professor Sambo is well seasoned and thoroughbred, reason for the tangible excitement in the industry at his arrival, especially at this critical moment in the chequered history of NHIS when the agency has an urgent need of the right calibre of leadership to redefine and reassert itself.

This first rank academic graduated with an MBBS from the University of Jos in 1993, and capped it with the distinguished Fellowship of the West African College of Physicians in 2003, where he was the Best Candidate in the Final Fellowship examination.

In the academic wing of his illustrious public service career, Professor Sambo had eminently acquitted himself in the positions of Deputy Dean, Faculty of Medicine, and Head, Department of Community Medicine, both at the blue chip Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

It is particularly interesting to note that the new Executive Secretary was prominent when the building blocks of NHIS were being moulded, having served in the Scheme previously as Assistant Director/Zonal Coordinator in the South West Zone of the Scheme, with concurrent responsibility for Lagos, the single largest healthcare service hub in the country.

To deepen the home-coming element of his appointment, Professor Sambo was also the Assistant General Manager and Head of HMO Division at the NHIS Headquarters, in Abuja.

He thereafter served on the supply side of Healthcare delivery, at the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), where he was Assistant Director/Zonal Coordinator, North West Zone of the Agency.

Mohammed Nasir Sambo’s skills for health policy development found ample expression during the tenure of Professor Eyitayo Lambo, as Minister of Health, during which the Executive Secretary served as a Member of the Ministerial Technical Working Group that developed the National Healthcare Financing Policy, a framework that largely facilitated the formal flag off of NHIS in June 2005 by President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He was also a member of the Ministerial Technical Working Groups for the Public Private Partnership Policy on Health, the National Health Strategic Development Plan, and the all-important National Health Policy.