While splendid Nigerian political office holders, past and present, can be counted only on fingertips, Anambra-born former Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and former Information Minister, Dr. Dora Nkem Akunyili OFR, will always make the list, and can arguably top the list.

The graduate of Pharmacy, who served NAFDAC between 2001 and 2008 succumbed to uterine cancer on June 7, 2014 after two years battle. She died five weeks to her 60th birthday. Today, the world rise to celebrate the ebullient stewardship and contribution to humanity of a woman, who received over 900 awards in her lifetime, 10 years after.

Born Dora Edemobi in Makurdi, Benue State, on July 14, 1954, to Chief Paul Young Edemobi who hailed from Nanka, Anambra State, the woman, who grew up to become a terror to fake drugs merchants, had her elementary education at the St. Patrick’s Primary School, Isuofia, Anambra State, where she received her First School Leaving Certificate in 1966. She proceeded to Queen of the Rosary Secondary School Nsukka, Enugu State in 1973, obtained her West African Examination Council (WAEC) Certificate, graduating with Grade I Distinction, and consequently, winning the Eastern Nigerian Government Post Primary Scholarship and the Federal Government of Nigeria Undergraduate Scholarship.

She went on to study Pharmacology at the University of Nigeria (U.N.N.), graduating in 1978 and followed it up with a Ph.D. in Ethnopharmacology in 1985.

Dora’s stewardship in public service has remained a case study and a reference point in integrity, honesty, determination, focus, and ability to administer justice no matter whose ox is gored. Dora was Nigeria’s Madam Excellence, giving her best shots to ajob description, and redefining the administration and control of health related matters in the country.

The former minister’s work trajectory is captured as follows:

In 1981, she became a Graduate Assistant in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UNN. In 1990, she became a Senior Lecturer and in 1996, she was made a Consultant Pharmacologist at the College of Medicine.

In 1996, Akunyili became Zonal Secretary of the Petroleum Special Trust Fund (P.T.F), coordinating projects funded by profits from oil in Nigeria’s South Eastern States. In 2001, President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed her the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

She was appointed NAFDAC DG in 2001 and served till 2009.

Akunyili had a special motivation for attacking the country’s counterfeit drug problem  and this is because, in 1988, she had watched her sister aged 21, die after being given injections of fake insulin as part of regular diabetes treatment. She put together a team of mostly female pharmacists and inspectors and started a war against counterfeit drugs that saw many open-air medicine markets across the country closed down. Including one in Kano State after her officers confiscated £140,000 worth of fake drugs. The agency, under her leadership, broadcast jingles on radio and television to make the public aware of the dangers of substandard drugs and to encourage people to report suspicious drugs while also publishing lists of counterfeit products regularly in the newspapers.

In July 2003, the International Children’s Heart Foundation visited Nigeria to operate on sick children at a teaching hospital in Enugu. After four children died in what appeared to be a case of counterfeit medical supplies, and despite being confronted with what seemed to be a hospital cover-up, Akunyili confiscated supplies and found fake adrenalin, fake muscle relaxant and infected intravenous drips.

As of June 2006, she was reported to have secured convictions for 45 counterfeiters with 56 cases pending. Her efforts led to increased public awareness about counterfeit drugs and more direct and purposeful surveillance at Nigerian customs.

On 26 December 2003, while Akunyili was on the way to Anambra State in Eastern Nigeria, gunmen fired on her convoy. The bullets narrowly missed her, with one of the bullets going through her headscarf and through the windscreen of the car. Prior to the incident, she had faced constant death threats against herself, her family, and her staff. In 2014, at least six people were charged with conspiracy and attempted murder, but acquitted and discharged in 2014.

In 2008, Akunyili was appointed Minister of Information and Communications.

She resigned her appointment as Minister of Information and Communications on December 16, 2010, after two years of service to run for office as senator representing Anambra Central in the National Assembly.

She ran for election as Senator for Anambra Central for the APGA in April 2011 but was defeated by Chris Ngige of the ACN. She immediately sent a petition to the Independent National Electoral Commission disputing the result.

She was a pharmacist and governmental administrator who gained international recognition and won several awards for her work in pharmacology, public health and human rights.