Yobe Hosts Pre-Award Dinner to Honour Healthcare Leaders, Foster Competition

The Yobe State Ministry of Health and Human Services, in collaboration with the State Primary Health Care Board (PHCB), on Tuesday hosted a Pre-Award Dinner for the 2025 Local Government Area (LGA) Primary Health Care (PHC) Leadership Challenge in Damaturu.

The event gathered top government officials from the national and state health sectors, Directors of Health from all 17 LGAs, development partners, and other key stakeholders.

In his address, the Executive Secretary of the Yobe State PHCB, Dr. Babagana Kundi Machina, stated that the dinner was organized to honor local government chairmen, health directors, and frontline health workers. 

He announced that the main award ceremony will hold on Wednesday to recognize the best-performing LGAs in the state for their family healthcare services.

"The aim is to foster positive competition and ensure that all local governments continue to strive for improvement," Dr. Machina said.

The Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr. Mohammed Lawan Gana, expressed his honor in addressing the audience on the significant occasion.

He outlined that the event is part of a broader initiative to recognize performance and leadership across LGAs, serving as a prelude to awarding excellence in primary healthcare.

Dr. Gana provided background on the Primary Healthcare Leadership Challenge Fund, explaining that it was established in November 2019 following a national meeting of governors.

"The deliberations from that meeting focused on strengthening primary healthcare, leading to a commitment from the governors to provide direct leadership and investment.

"To incentivize these commitments, development partners including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and UNICEF launched the Leadership Challenge Fund. 

"This initiative aims to improve leadership across the entire health sector, with Dr. Gana emphasizing that "without strong leadership, success is a monumental task,"said the health Commissioner.

He further highlighted the state's efforts to decentralize leadership through the creation of the 'Ward Primary Healthcare Management System,' ensuring effective governance reaches the grassroots level.

While acknowledging that Yobe State has received national recognition and awards for its performance, the Commissioner conceded that significant work remains to be done to meet the state's own benchmarks.