Covid-19: Okonjo-Iweala Reacts As WHO DG Named Among TIME’s 100 Most Influencial People

Nigeria’s former Finance and Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has expressed her views on the inclusion of the Director General of the World Health Organization(WHO), Tedros Adhanom, in TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2020.

TIME stated that Adhanom played a crucial role in the global fight against covid-19 and other diseases.

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On his part, Adhanom thanked the WHO workforce for defying all odds to give their best in saving humanity.

Among other things, Adhanom and his team, provided health advisories and reports to the world on a number of health issues.

“#TIME100 recognition is a result of tireless @WHO teamwork to make the #HealthForAll dream a reality.

“I am so proud of my colleagues and #ProudToBeWHO.

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“We are honoured to be acknowledged along with brave #healthworkers fighting #COVID19 24/7 and other well-deserving individuals,” he tweeted.

Meanwhile, in an article on TIME’s website, dated September 22, Former Minister of Nigeria and WHO/African Union Envoy on Covid-19, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, stressed that Adhanom deserved the feat for his exceptional commitment to duty.

“Crises so often tell us who we are and what we’re made of. For Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the COVID-19 pandemic is just such a defining moment.

“Throughout his career, and as director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros has stood firmly for equity and access—the idea that all people, wherever they are and whatever their circumstances, have the right to quality health care,” she stated.

Furthermore, she held that Tedros is proving his worth as a seasoned scientist going by his background and track record in the fight against the Ebola virus in Africa.

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“It’s a principle he surely acquired as a child in Ethiopia, where he saw with his own eyes how preventable diseases took the lives of children around him, including his own young brother.

“It drove him to play a personal role in the response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And it shaped him into the face of hope and determination at the center of the COVID-19 storm.

“An experienced scientist and public-health leader, Tedros knows that until we protect the most vulnerable among us from COVID-19, none of us is protected,” Okonjo-Iweala stated.

THE WHISTLER earlier reported that in Nigeria, the Chairman of United Bank for Africa, Tony Elumelu, former cardiologist Tunji Funsho and Tomi Adeyemi, were also listed by TIME.

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