Omoyele Sowore, the African Action Congress, ACC presidential candidate has announced Rabiu Ahmed Rufai, a medical doctor as his running mate in the 2019 general election.
Malcom Fabiyi, the Sowore Campaign director-general, announced the appointment in a statement on Monday.
Mr Sowore, while giving his remarks, said he could not think of anyone more qualified than Mr Rufai as his running mate. The presidential candidate said Mr Rufai would help reform the country’s health sector.
“Health is Wealth – and in our government, Dr Rufai will be responsible for ensuring that Nigerians have access to affordable and world-class healthcare and translating that to economic growth,” Mr Sowore said.
He added that the health sector, which is part of their agenda, is a critical one which Mr Rufai is most suitable to spearhead.
“In our bid to work on Nigeria’s multifaceted challenges and proffer solutions that will create a true giant out of our nation, we have always believed that health care, population health and health economics, ranks alongside national security and power, as critical areas that a serious government must address. I can think of no one more qualified than Dr Rufai to spearhead that aspect of our agenda.”
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that Mr Rufai, who hails from Jigawa state and born on July 1976, is a fellow of the West African College of Physicians, FWACP, as well as a fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health, FRSPH.
Aside from practising medicine, he is an academic. The party vice-president candidate was the pioneer dean of the school of public health at the Federal University, Dutse from 2014 to 2015.
He had served as an honorary consultant physician at the federal medical centre in Birnin Kudu between 2014 and 2015.
Mr Rufai had a medical degree (MBBS) from Bayero University, Kano, and Masters in Public Health (MPH) from Leeds University United Kingdom.
His areas of expertise include Maternal and Child Health Services, Communicable Disease Prevention & Control, Health Systems Development for Primary Health Care, Health Management, Policy and Planning, Health Economics and Policy Research, Health System Development and Strengthening, Demography, Monitoring & Evaluation of Health Programs, Medical Statistics and Epidemiology.
