ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES OF THE NORTH-EAST

Ismaila Maksha, a public health expert, takes charge of operations in NEDC, writes Joe Mutah

            The North-east is in a state of emergency due to social dislocation, displacement, destruction of infrastructure and means of livelihood among others. Of course, the long years of insurgency has wreaked havoc across the entire sub-region leaving the inhabitants desolate and pauperised.

            Of recent, the United Nations raised the alarm over imminent widespread hunger and malnutrition crisis in the sub-region – a precarious situation requiring emergency solution.

            The advent of the North East Development Commission (NEDC) is to serve as an intervention agency to address the challenges facing the sub-region. Since inception, interested parties like my humble self, have watched keenly how the NEDC traversed the labyrinth to discharge its mandate.

            The verdict on the performance of the pioneer management and board of the NEDC is diverse depending on which side of the divide one belongs to. On the overall, the pioneer NEDC board tried to rebuild destroyed infrastructure including bridges, schools, hospitals and provision of social amenities, youth empowerment through ICT and other ventures among other interventions.

            As the pioneer board exited the stage and a new one is put in place, there are a lot of expectations from the people of the sub-region, who are currently facing imminent hunger crisis in addition to litany of other challenges.

            In the face of these crises, the President sought and secured the services of some eminent Nigerians to serve on the board of the NEDC. Among the newly appointed board is Dr. Ismaila Nuhu Maksha, whose reputation precedes his personality as international health care expert, a politician and a distinguished Nigerian from Adamawa State.

            Dr Maksha came highly recommended having worked with UNICEF to respond and surmount the humanitarian crisis in Liberia in the wake of the crisis there.

            The inexhaustible professional, who had put about 22 years of service in a global organisation such as the UNICEF, will surely add value to the NEDC having lent his wealth of experience in crisis-ridden countries such as Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, Iran, Sudan, Palestine, etc.

            The public health expert per excellence and a holder of Bachelors of Medicine and of Surgery has paid his due in humanitarian crisis response similar or even worse than the one being witnessed in the North-east.

            I came in contact with him during the national response to the Corona Virus Pandemic, where he was one of the eggheads in the National Pandemic Response Secretariat of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and my humble self, served as the Lead, Risk Communication and Community Engagement Pillar of the PTF.

            For almost two years, we worked round-the-clock to implement a science-based response to the novel pandemic with Dr Maksha, serving pro-bono, as one of our experts.

            Our main challenge in the Risk Communication and Community Engagement Pillar at that time was the non-compliance to safety protocol by Nigerians in spite of the various programmes we implemented in public sensitisation and community mobilisation.

            Dr Maksha served as our resource person in one of the review sessions of the PTF and through his fecund imagination he was able to put us through on how to achieve the objective of community mobilisation in response to COVID-19.

            For over nine months at the beginning of the response, we held daily virtual meetings to articulate and review our response to the pandemic and on several occasions, the PTF Incident Manager, Dr Muktar Mohammed, had to hear from Dr Maksha before major decisions were taken. That was mainly due to his depth of erudition, his wide-ranging experience and patriotism as a citizen.

            For the first time, I physically met and interacted with the avuncular Dr. Maksha in the month of July 2020 during the mid-term review of the PTF. He particularly took interest in me and the workings of our Pillar and agreed to lend us his wealth of experience.

            With his appointed on the NEDC Board, I am convinced beyond doubt that the people of Nigeria and the North-east in particular are the ultimate beneficiaries of the wealth of experience of Dr.Maksha.

            Even though he hails from Adamawa State, the tour of duty as the National Officer of UNICEF Field Office in Bauchi State gave the unique opportunity to visit and work in all the six states in the North-east geo-political zone.

Beyond his calling as a public health expert of repute, Dr Maksha is a grass roots politicians of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Gashaka Local Government Area of Adamawa State.

            He has a sprawling network of supporters, who worked assiduously to mobilise and galvanise support for the APC in Adamawa State and I am sure his towering reputation as a medical expert coupled with his political acumen and patriotism, earned him the appointment on the board of the NEDC.

            Dr Maksha holds the national honour of Member of the Federal Republic (MFR) in appreciation for his service to the nation and humanity.

Mutah writes from Abuja