The Rivers State Ministry of Health has commenced interviews for shortlisted candidates for the National Health Fellows Programme.
The initiative was launched after President Bola Tinubu and the governors of the 36 states, along with the Federal Capital Territory agreed to declare a state of emergency in the health sector in 2023.
The Federal Government picked three applicants for interviews from each of the 774 local government areas as part of the initiative.
It is expected that the chosen candidates will collaborate with the federal, state, and local governments to strengthen healthcare systems and improve health outcomes at the population level.
Speaking after the first phase of the interviews on Monday, the Rivers State Commissioner for Health, Dr Adaeze Oreh, described the National Health Fellows Programme as one of President Tinubu’s strategic interventions to deploy young, passionate, and skilled professionals to enhance the health sector.
Represented by the Acting Director of Planning, Research, and Statistics at the Ministry of Health, Dr Julianne Nwoke, Dr. Oreh explained that under the directives of the Minister of Health, Professor Ali Pate, all Commissioners of Health across the 36 states and the FCT were instructed to set up a seven-member committee to oversee the selection process.
According to the Commissioner, the committees are to be coordinated by the State Coordinators of the World Health Organization as part of the organisation’s support for the programme.
The selection process in Rivers State is expected to end by Wednesday.
Representatives from the Rivers State Ministry of Health, WHO, academia, civil society organizations, and the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, or ALGON, are among the seven members of the committee that is in charge of the selection process.
The Federal Government shortlisted three candidates per LGA nationwide, drawn from three specific fields: Public Health, Data Management, and Information and Communication Technology.
Only one candidate will be chosen from each LGA, after the interview process.
