AKIN ABAYOMI: WINNING THE WAR FROM THE FRONTLINE
By Abayomi Oyelami, Trek Africa Newspaper
Commissioner for Health, Lagos State, Prof. Akin Abayomi
Save for the Lagos State Civil Service where ministry staffers of the State Ministry of Health will know him, the name Prof. Akin Abayomi is relatively unknown in the public space until the coronavirus pandemic began in Lagos.
‘Who is that oyinbo behind our Governor? Is he a Nigerian?’ were some funny questions Trek Africa Newspaper’s Reporters were asked by some individuals in the state who watched the Governor’s briefings from home. In fact, a prankster on popular micro-blogging platform, Twitter circulated the image of the innocent medical expert as the Italian man who was the index case in Nigeria. Wonders shall never end especially in the age of social media!
But Prof. Akin Abayomi is the man winning the war from the frontline. As it is common in political leadership to extol the politician more than the professional, the erudite doctor may not enjoy much rave but he smoothly and quietly execute his arduous job of containing the spread of the virus in the city-state that is Nigeria’s epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. His regular updates on conventional and social media bring mixed feelings of joy and anxiety, and cheers and sneers. On a particular day, when he announced that the number of cases in the megacity could rise to as much as 120,000 by July/August of the year, he sent chills down the spine of many a Lagosian. They prayed that even the entire country will not have as much cases before a cure or vaccine is found for the novel disease.
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu (right); Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi (2nd right); Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Femi Hamzat
Before his role as Commissioner of Health in Lagos, the consummate physician who specializes in blood disorders, environmental health and human development has previously worked in various capacities in United Kingdom, St. Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Barbados, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
‘To whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked’, says the Holy Book, Prof. Akin Abayomi has performed credibly during the pandemic. This is probably the biggest challenge in the life of the Nigerian pathologist and he is winning the war from the frontline. His medical journal after this period will surely be a worthy read.
L-R: Lagos Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat; Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi displaying Coronavirus sensitisation materials
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu (m); Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat (3rd right); Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi (2nd left) during the Governor’s award presentation to Frontline Health workers as part of activities to commemorate his administration’s First Year in Office, at Lagos House, Marina, on Friday, May 29, 2020.
Published first in Trek Africa Newspaper on Wednesday 10th June, 2020.
