Remember Late Prof Dora Akunyili, one time Director General of the National Agency For Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)? Her fight against drug abuse and trafficking in Nigeria, and resolve to rid the country of drugs-related crimes was legendary. Even at the risk of her life, she fought like a Lion and succeeded in bringing many notorious drug traffickers on their knees. Her achievements in the fight against drug trafficking and drug barons in Nigeria are yet to be equalled since her passage, many years ago.
But like the saying goes, “A Lion cannot give birth to a goat, but a Lion”. When it came to the issue of drugs trafficking and abuse, Prof Dora Akunyili was not only a dogged fighter but a Lion. Though she is gone to be with her maker, the memory of her good works linger on the minds of many Nigerians who saw and had a feel of all that she did in this regard.
More importantly, her good works cannot be said to be in vain, as there is another Akunyili, her daughter, who is silently making waves, and doing Nigeria and the black race proud in her own profession. She is Dr. Ijeoma Akunyili; you may choose to call her “A chip of her old block”.
Very recently, she was elected to the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Alumni Board, alongside eight other individuals from various countries.
Ijeoma Akunyili has made significant strides in the medical field. She was elected as an alumni board member of Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) in July 2024.
She graduated with top honors from the University of Pennsylvania and later earned a Masters of Public Administration from Harvard. Following her education, she worked at the World Bank before pursuing medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and completing her emergency medicine residency at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston.
Her career highlights include serving as the regional medical director for TeamHealth’s Northeast Group, overseeing operations across multiple states. She also chaired emergency medicine at Waterbury Hospital and currently leads as President of the Connecticut College of Emergency Physicians.
In 2023, Ijeoma made history as the Chief Medical Officer at Jersey City Medical Center, becoming their first Black CMO. She has received accolades such as the Rising Star Award from the American Association of Women Emergency Physicians in 2016 and the Medical Director of the Year Award in 2019.
Beyond her career, Ijeoma is married to Aris Brou and is a proud mother of two. Her achievements continue to inspire, including her recent election as an alumni board member at Harvard Kennedy School.
At this point, permit me to refresh your memory about the Mother of Ijeoma, Prof Dora Akunyili, and leave you to conclude wether or not she is a chip of her old block.
Dora Akunyili served on several State Government Boards and then was named Supervisory Councilor for Agriculture in a Local Government unit in Anambra State. She worked as a hospital pharmacist in the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital. (U.N.T.H), Enugu State.
In 1981, she became a Graduate Assistant in the FaU.NN. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, U.N.N, and in 1990, she rose to become a Senior Lecturer and in 1996, she was made a Consultant Pharmacologist at the College of Medicine.
In 1996, she became Zonal Secretary of the Petroleum Special Trust Fund (P.T.F), coordinating projects funded by profits from oil in Nigeria’s South Eastern States. In 2001, President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed her the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
Of significant importance was the fact that, Prof Dora Akunyili had a special motivation for attacking the country’s counterfeit drug problem and this is because, in 1988, she had watched her sister, aged 21, die after being given injections of fake insulin as part of regular diabetes treatment.
This singular sad insidece inspired her putting together a team of mostly female pharmacists and inspectors which started a war against counterfeit drugs that saw many open-air medicine markets across the country close down, including one in Kano State after her officers confiscated £140,000 worth of fake drugs.
The agency, under her leadership, broadcast jingles on radio and television to make the public aware of the dangers of substandard drugs and to encourage people to report suspicious drugs while also publishing lists of counterfeit products regularly in the newspapers.
In July 2003, the International Children’s Heart Foundation visited Nigeria to operate on sick children at a teaching hospital in Enugu. After four children died in what appeared to be a case of counterfeit medical supplies, and despite being confronted with what seemed to be a hospital w11-up, Akunyili confiscated supplies and found fake adrenalin, fake muscle relaxant and infected intravenous drips.
As of June 2006, she was reported to have secured convictions for 45 counterfeiters with 56 cases pending. Her efforts led to increased public awareness about counterfeit drugs and more direct and purposeful surveillance at the Nigerian customs.
