By Hassan Zaggi
The former Spokesman of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Abubakar Jimoh, has instituted an award christened Dr Abdul Aziz Anako Fache (DAAF) Memorial Award for journalists reporting Nigeria’s health sector.
He disclosed this at a lecture/award ceremony organized in his honour by the Association of Nigeria Health Journalists (ANHEJ) in Abuja, weekend.
The lecture/award ceremony was to honour Dr. Jimoh who recently retired after serving for over 30 years as the Spokesman of NAFDAC.
The award is targeted at best Health Reporters in both Print and Electronic media in Nigeria.
According to him, entries for the two categories of awards ,which carry a monetary prize of N250,000 for each beneficiary, will take effect from March 2024 while the award ceremony will hold in September.
The annual merit awards, Dr. Jimoh said, is to immortalise his only brother, a seasoned medical practitioner who died tragically of cardiac arrest on September 22, 2022, at the age of 53.
Dr Jimoh said the annual merit award was instituted in honour of Dr Fache to promote hard work, dedication, diligence, and excellence in health reporting in Nigeria.
“Dr Fache was a multi talented scholar, seasoned medical doctor, Lawyer and Author of Literary works. This award will help reduce pain, shock and irreparable loss of the rare Gem.
“A concerned friend of Fache family, Hajiya Memunah Aliyu, former Executive Director of Aso Savings and Loans Limited, has donated N500,000 to this cause and the awards fund will continue to increase as more donors have made pledges”.
Speaking earlier in her lecture, the Executive Director of International Society for Media in Public Health (ISMPH), Chief Moji Makanjuola, called on journalists in Nigeria to move from what she described as “event journalism to investigative journalism.”
She insisted that health journalists occupy a sensitive position in the country because, according to her, Nigerians rely on them for regular health information.
She commended the retired Spokesman of NAFDAC, Dr. Jimoh for his hard work and dedication which she said, made NAFDAC a household name in Nigeria.
Chief Moji reiterated that Dr. Moji demonstrated rare qualities of humility, compassion, dedication and resilience to duty.
She called on experts in the health sector to work closely with the health journalists to ensure Nigerians get the right information that will help them make informed decision concerning their health. Speaking, the President of ANHEJ, Mr Joseph Kadiri, commended the worthy efforts of the Fache Family and urged other well meaning Nigerians to emulate this kind gesture.
