Prof. Mohammed Sambo, Director-General, National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), has been inducted into the United Kingdom’s Faculty of Public Health as a Fellow Through Distinction.
The NHIA Deputy General Manager, Emmanuel Ononokpono, made this known in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja.
Ononokpono said the event also witnessed the induction of other eminent personalities into various categories of honour including the Mayor of London, Mr Sadiq Khan.
According to him, a fellow through distinction is the highest honour bestowed on an individual who is active in the academia.
He said that it was also a recognition of those who had made outstanding contributions in public health through leadership, research and presentation of concepts at national and international levels.
Ononokpono said Sambo had been the Head of Community Medicine and Deputy Dean, Faculty of Medicine, both roles at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria.
“He was also at a time the Provost of the College of Medicine, Kaduna State University (KASU).
“He has been credited with raising the indices of health insurance in Nigeria under his watch as Chief Executive Officer of NHIA in the past four years.
“He has over 70 publications in his name,’’ he said.
Ononokpono said, according to Sambo, the honour was in recognition of efforts being made by NHIA to accelerate the drive towards the attainment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Sambo said: “It serves as a personal inspiration to fire on all cylinders for the improvement of Nigeria’s health insurance system.”