Health minister, Alhassan, deserts office — Investigation

May 21, 2015

Minister of Health, Dr. Khaliru Alhassan, has been absent from his office and the entire ministry since President Goodluck Jonathan lost his re-election bid, National Mirror investigation has revealed.

Our correspondent reliably gathered that the minister was last seen in office few days to the last presidential poll.

Until his confirmation as substantive Minister of Health by President Jonathan on March 18 this year, he had headed the ministry in acting capacity between October 20, 2014, and March 17. He was appointed Minister of State on March 5, 2014, alongside eight others.

On March 18 this year, his current state counterpart, Engr. Fidelis Nwankwo, was appointed as Minister of State by the President.

Alhassan worked with the former Health Minister, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, who resigned to contest a gubernatorial election in his state, Ebonyi. Chukwu contested on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, but failed at the primary level.

Dr. Alhassan hails from Sokoto State, one of the strongholds of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the North. The party routed the PDP, which had led the Federal Government for 16 years.

Since he deserted office, the minister has been represented by Fidelis at functions either carried out or attended by the ministry.

One of the sources who spoke with our correspondent but pleaded anonymity said: “We have not seen him (Alhassan) since the defeat of his principal. We learnt he went for Hajj shortly after the election, and since then we haven’t seen him.

“You can see that he is being represented at all events, including the ongoing 68th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. We doubt if he will appear in his office or at the ministry before the May 29 inauguration date, because it is over a month now that we have seen him last.”

Up till January this year, the minister was confronted with the strike embarked upon by health workers in the country. He battled to pacify the aggrieved workers over the action which lasted for about two months.

Alhassan met with stakeholders in Lagos and the nation’s capital, Abuja, to ensure the action was put on hold, and he succeeded.

The nation’s health sector has been engulfed by feuds among health professionals, necessitating calls for the sack of Prof Chukwu. But, Alhassan did not face such a demand.

The performance of the sector has however received applause from international organisations such as the World Health Organisation, WHO. The peak of such praise was the prompt containment of the deadly Ebola virus disease in the country. Alhassan took part in the effort.