Governor Babagana Umara Zulum has approved the appointment of Professor Mohammed Arab Alhaji as the Executive Director of Borno State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (SPHCDA).
The appointment which is with immediate effect was announced by the governor’s spokesman, Malam Isa Gusau, in a statement issued Wednesday morning.
The 59-year-old Arab had served as the state Commissioner of Health from July 2022 to May 2023.
He had also served as Chief Medical Director of Borno State Hospital Management Board from September 2020 to July 2022.
Professor Arab is a medical doctor with specialisation in pediatrics, gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition.
He was an honorary consultant paediatrician at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, a locum (backup) consultant at Borno State Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri, and visiting consultant to General Sani Abacha Hospital in Damaturu, Yobe state.
Arab had managed University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital’s Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition / Infectious diseases specialist clinics.
He had also worked as a resident doctor in Ibadan and Kaduna.
As an academic, Arab authored and co-authored about 50 local and international academic publications as at 2020, and mentored dozens of medical doctors.
Arab had served in more than 20 technical committees as facilitator/investigator to several government and non-governmental organisations’ programmes which included the Federal Ministry of Health, Borno state government on health projects, the World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) among others.
