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74th UNGA: Toyin Saraki Meets World Leaders, Advocates Support For Universal Health Coverage
Mrs Toyin Saraki, the Global advocate and Founder-President of leading women and children’s health organisation, Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA) has arrived New York , United States of America ahead of the 74th United Nations General Assembly and has begun high level meetings with world leaders.
Every year presidents, prime ministers, and other top delegates from more than 190 countries, along with key players from within the development sector convene in Manhattan to strategize on critical issues facing today’s world.
The theme of this year’s General Debate, set by Tijjani Muhammad-Bande of Nigeria, President of the 74th General Assembly is ‘Galvanising multilateral efforts for poverty eradication, quality education, climate action and inclusion’.
It is within the context of this general theme that Mrs Saraki delivered high-level advocacy speechesat the Concordia Summit on the role that public-private partnership can play to deliver UHC as well as scalable interventions for sexual and reproductive health and rights.
She also attended the her first Concordia Leadership Council meeting where she noted that she was optimistic following planning diuscussions on how Concordia’s activities can be further expanded in Nigeria.
Mrs Saraki noted that it is at events like this that we can attract investments that will create the opportunity for Nigerian youths to channel their entrepreneurship.
In a statement released by her office, Mrs Saraki stated.
‘On reflection, we achieved progress during and since the era of the Millennium Development Goals. However, to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals we have a long way to go. We face significant challenges, but our world is moulded by the collective promises and plans we make to address them. The United Nations General Assembly is an opportunity for thinkers, leaders and activists from around the world to take action, to learn, and to build the partnerships needed to drive progress.’
‘It is important to me to utilise the 74th General Assembly as an opportunity to accelerate progress to achieving Universal Health Coverage. Whole system support is essential to achieve universal health coverage. Every single person should have access to the care they need when they need it. No one should be forced to suffer financial hardship or forgo treatment because they cannot afford it. I look forward to a productive week ahead.’
Toyin Saraki started the week by joining Tedros Adhanom, Director-General of the W0rld Health Organisation (WHO), along with thousands of people of all ages and abilities at Walk the Talk: The Health for All Challenge.
The walk is organized by the WHO, the United Nations, and the City of New York, and aims to promote healthy lifestyles within the city’s community and to advocate for the idea that everyone should have access to the care they need when they need it. This follows Toyin Saraki and Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s participation in Walk the Talk Abuja, earlier this month.
She is also expected participate in the One by One: Target 2030 conference’s Clean Water Access and Sanitation Panel, hosted by Access challenge and the African Union. She will be joined by Dr Mwele Ntuli Malecela, Director of Neglected Tropical Diseases at the World Health Organization (WHO), Angela Nguku Director of the White Ribbon Alliance, and other distinguished dignitaries.
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2027: Nigerians Will Choose Their President, Atiku Berates SGF Akume
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has stated that the power to decide who will occupy the office of President of Nigeria in 2027 ultimately resides in the Nigerian people.
Atiku’s statement was in response to a comment made by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, who claimed that President Bola Tinubu’s second term in office for 2027 is a done deal.
Akume had argued that for equity and fairness, it is only right for Tinubu – a southerner – to complete a second term, as the North had already had its fair share of leadership.
Atiku’s Special Adviser (Media), Paul Ibe, responded to Akume’s remarks through a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, asking, “Where, then, does true equity and fairness reside?”
Ibe highlighted that by 2027, the South would have enjoyed 17 years of leadership—eight years under Olusegun Obasanjo, five years under Goodluck Jonathan, and four years under Tinubu—while the North would have experienced only 11 years, with Umaru Yar’Adua serving three years and Muhammadu Buhari serving eight years. This, Ibe argued, creates a six-year disparity between the North and South, affecting the balance of power.
He concluded by emphasizing that the power to elect or remove a government lies firmly with the Nigerian people, who will decide whether the current administration deserves another term. “But has the Tinubu government demonstrated that it deserves to be re-elected? The answer, alas, is as clear as the heavens themselves—God forbid!”
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John Dramani Mahama: The New Landlord at Jubilee House
By Eric Elezuo
The phone call from the opposition, New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, and incumbent Vice President, Muhammadu Bawumia, was not just the dose Ghanaians needed to erupt into a frenzy in celebration of the election victory of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, and former President, John Dramani Mahama, it was also the antidote to neutralize any unforeseen electoral brouhaha that might erupt in the near future.
The admission of defeat by Bawumia sent the people of Ghana into loud shouts of victory; singing and dancing to celebrate the return of a man known for his penchant to deliver good governance. To a great number of Ghanaians, even those who did not vote for him as a result of party affiliation, and other technical reasons, another ‘black jesus’, who will restore the economic efficacy of the country has returned to Jubilee House, formerly known as Flagstaff House, the official home of the President of the Republic of Ghana.
Today, Mahama is no longer former President, he is President-elect, waiting to take up the mantle of leadership for another four years. He is the new landlord of Ghana’s Jubilee House!
The President-Elect, Mr. John Dramani Mahama, is not a stranger when it comes to churning out people oriented programmes and initiatives. During his days as minister, vice president and subsequently, the president, Mahama’s landmark achievements have remained a reference to administrators and would-be administrators. His feats have not escaped the discerning minds and eyes, who have showered him with accolades from home and abroad. In Nigeria, he has been recognized on more then many occasions including his state of of ancestral connection, Kwara, where he bagged the title of Aare Atolase of Offa Kingdom, conferred on him by the Olofa of Offa Kingdom.
Also among the avalanche of recognitions the President-Elect has garnered in Nigeria, is the award of honours on his person by the premier private university in Nigeria, the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State.
On November 24, 2018, he was conferred with an honourary doctorate degree for his foresightedness, infrastructural development and general achievements which have affected humanity positively.
Mahama, a politician of great repute, was born on November 29 1958, and has been privileged to serve in various civil and political capacities, culminating in holding the highest office in the land from July 24, 2012 to January 7, 2017.
Mahama started his primary education at the Accra Newtown Experimental School (ANT1) and completed his O’levels education at Achimota School and his A’levels education at Ghana Secondary School (Tamale, Northern region). He proceeded to the University of Ghana, Legon, receiving a Bachelor’s degree in History in 1981 and a Postgraduate Diploma in Communication Studies in 1986. As a student, he was a member of Commonwealth Hall (Legon). He also studied at the Institute of Social Sciences in Moscow in the Soviet Union, specializing in Social Psychology; he obtained a postgraduate degree in 1988.
His catalogue of enviable services include serving as Vice President of Ghana from 2009 to 2012, and took office as President on July 24, 2012 following the death of his predecessor, John Atta Mills. He was also a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2009 and Minister of Communications from 1998 to 2001. A communication expert, historian, and writer, Mahama is a member of the National Democratic Congress.
Though he was born in Damongo in the Damango-Daboya constituency of Northern region, he is a member of the Gonja ethnic group, and hails from Bole in the Northern region. His father, Emmanuel Adama Mahama, a wealthy rice farmer and teacher, was the first Member of Parliament for the West Gonja constituency and the first Regional Commissioner of the Northern Region during the First Republic under Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah.
After completing his undergraduate education, Mahama taught History at the secondary school level for a few years. Upon his return to Ghana after studying in Moscow, he worked as the Information, Culture and Research Officer at the Embassy of Japan in Accra between 1991 and 1995.
From there he moved to the anti-poverty non-governmental organisation (NGO) Plan International’s Ghana Country Office, where he worked as International Relations, Sponsorship Communications and Grants Manager between 1995 and 1996.
In 1993, he participated in a professional training course for Overseas Public Relations Staff, organized by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo. He also participated in a management development course organized by Plan International (RESA) in Nairobi, Kenya.
Mahama’s first triumph in politics came in 1996 when he was elected to the Parliament of Ghana to represent the Bole/Bamboi Constituency for a four-year term. In April 1997, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Communications, and barely a year later, was promoted to the post of Minister of Communications, and served until January 2001. During the period under review, he also served as the Chairman of the National Communications Authority, in which capacity he played a key role in stabilising Ghana’s telecommunications sector after it was deregulated in 1997.
As a minister, he was a founding member of the Ghana AIDS Commission, a member of the implementation committee of the 2000 National Population Census and a deputy chairman of the Publicity Committee for the re-introduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT).
In 2000, Mahama was re-elected for another four-year term as the Member of Parliament for the Bole/Bamboi Constituency. He was again re-elected in 2004 for a third term. From 2001 to 2004, Mahama served as the Minority Parliamentary Spokesman for Communications.
In 2002, he was appointed the Director of Communications for the NDC. That same year, he served as a member of the team of International Observers selected to monitor Zimbabwe’s Parliamentary Elections.
As an MP, he was a member of Standing Orders Committee as well as the Transport, Industry, Energy, Communications, Science and Technology Committee of Parliament.
In his continued efforts to expand his interest and involvement in international affairs, in 2003 Mahama became a member of the Pan-African Parliament, serving as the Chairperson of the West African Caucus until 2011. He was also a member of European and Pan African Parliaments’ Ad-hoc Committee on Cooperation.
In 2005, he was, additionally, appointed the Minority Spokesman for Foreign Affairs. He is also a member of the UNDP Advisory Committee on Conflict Resolution in Ghana.
As Vice-President, he served as the Chairman of the National Economic Management Team, the Armed Forces Council of Ghana, the Decentralisation and Implementation Committee and the Police Council of Ghana in this capacity.
Mahama is full of experience, having served at all levels of poltical office, and he brought them all to bear as President, giving out a sterling performance that could only compare with the very best. He was the first, and remains the only Ghana president to have been born after independence.
On March 30, 2014, he was elected to preside over ECOWAS. On June 26, 2014, he was elected Chairperson of the African Union’s (AU’s) High-Level African Trade Committee (HATC).
On January 21, 2016 on the occasion of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mahama became co-chair of the Sustainable Development Goals Advocates group which consists of 17 eminent persons assisting the UN Secretary-General in the campaign to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that world leaders unanimously adopted in September 2015.
In December 2016, he was part of the ECOWAS mediation team to resolve the post-election political impasse in The Gambia between the defeated incumbent, Yahya Jammeh and declared winner, Adam Barrow.
Mahama, now a member of the Assemblies of God, is married to Lordina Mahama, and they are blessed with five children named Shafik, Shahid, Sharaf, Jesse and Farida.
Over the course of his career, Mahama has written for several newspapers and other publications both locally and internationally. Additionally, he is also a devotee of Afrobeat music, especially that of Fela Kuti.
Mahama is not new to awards and honours as his good works have paved a broad way for recognitions. He received an honorary doctorate in the field of Public Administration, from the Ekiti State University of Nigeria, formerly affiliated to the Obafemi Awolowo University in “recognition of his politico-socio economic development of Ghana and Africa at various stages of his political career. Later the same university passed a resolution to name its Faculty of Management Science after him.
He was also honoured by the Cuban government with the Friendship Medal for his relentless advocacy for the Cuban cause.
Also, The General Council of Assemblies of God, Ghana has honoured him with its Daniel Award.
The Graduate School of Governance and Leadership also awarded him the African Servant Leadership Award while the Institute of Public Relations recognized Mahama with a prize for his leadership acumen and technocratic flair.
In 2013, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) conferred on Mahama the Africa Award for Excellence in Food Security and Poverty Reduction.
In March 2016, University of Aberdeen held a special convocation to confer him an honorary degree of Doctors of Laws (LLD).
In December 2016, he was honoured with a Life time award by Ovation Media Group during its yearly Ovation Carol.
A Bill Gates Fellow, Mahama was awarded the Great Cross of the National Order of Benin, the highest award in Benin, by President Yayi Boni.
In February 2017, Mahama received the 2016 African Political Leader of the Year Award from the African Leadership Magazine in South Africa.
He honourably left office on January 7, 2018 after losing to main opposition candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, in the general election held a month earlier.
“I will allow history to be the judge of my time,” Mahama said as he address his crowd of supporters as he concede defeat.
He repeated the same lines as he variously defended his administration in a bid to make a comeback during his campaigns.
Mahama has touted the achievements of his government in the areas of power, roads, the economy, water and sanitation. While delivering his final State of the Nation Address to Parliament, he said the government had extended electricity coverage, increased water supply and improved roads.
As president, he deployed emergency plants and sped up the completion of ongoing plants resulting in the addition of more than 800 megawatts (MW) of power over an 18-month period. That, and many more had helped to stabilise the power situation in Ghana.
Working on the standard mantra of achieving “water for all by the year 2025”, Mahama put in extra effort to achieve the target well in advance of the set date by increasing investment in the provision of clean drinking water, citing of boreholes, small town water systems and major urban water treatment. Consequently, by the end of 2015, excess of 76 per cent of both rural and urban residents have access to potable water.
Mahama contended that his tenure of office had seen some of the most massive investments in the road sector in the history of the country.
While he completed road projects he inherited, such as the Achimota-Ofankor, Awoshie-Pokuase, Sofoline and Tetteh Quarshie-Adenta, he also commenced and completed the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, fast-tracked the construction and opening of the Kasoa overhead bridge, completed the Airport Hills/Burma Camp network of roads, as well as the 37-El Wak-Trade Fair road and a host of others.
His trail of achievements are endless. Mahama is just another name for administrative excellence, and Ghanaians are blessed to have him return to complete his secure tenure as the landlord of Jubilee House.
Mahama will be sworn in to run another four-year course of administration on January 7, 2025, having defeated the incumbent Vice President, Bawumia, in a keenly contested election on December 7, 2024.
Congratulations sir!
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