By Halimah Olamide
Nigeria’s Professor Muhammad Ali Pate has opted out of his job as the Chief Executive Officer of GAVI, a global vaccine non-profit organization to become a Minister under the President Bola Tinubu administration.
Earlier in February, Pate was billed to take over as the boss of the organization in August this year from the outgoing American vaccine expert, Dr. Seek Berkley.
But according to a statement by GAVI, Pate had written to the board of the global body to say that he would be returning to Nigeria to contribute his quota to the development of his country.
In his place, Gavi Board decided to appoint David Marlow, currently Gavi’s Chief Operating Officer, to the position of Interim Chief Executive Officer, effective 3 August 2023.
“The appointment follows a communication from Dr Muhammad Pate, who had been approved by the Gavi Board in February to become Gavi’s next CEO, that he will not be able to join Gavi. Dr Pate informed the Gavi Board Chair and Vice Chair that he has taken an incredibly difficult decision to accept a request to return and contribute to his home country, Nigeria,” the organization said in a statement posted on its website
It said the organization “respects the decision and wishes Dr Pate the very best for the future. On informing Gavi, Dr Pate thanked the Chair of the Gavi Board, José Manuel Barroso, the diverse set of Gavi Board members and partners, current CEO Dr. Seth Berkley, and the Secretariat staff for their support over the last few months, commenting that he will remain a steadfast champion of the Gavi mission.
“The Gavi Board is delighted that Mr Marlow has accepted this responsibility and has full confidence in the strength of the Gavi leadership team and the Alliance to support this transition.
“The Gavi Board is committed to delivering on its mission and strategic priorities while it conducts a search for the next CEO.”
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 981 million children – and prevented more than 16.2 million future deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 73 lower-income countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningococcal and yellow fever vaccines.
NPO Reports reliably gathered that Pate’s decision to dump the Gavi’s job was informed by the fact that he had been headhunted and most likely going to be the country’s next Minister of Health under the new administration of Tinubu.