TODAY IN HISTORY: Dora Akunyili died

Dora Nkem Akunyili (14 July 1954 – 7 June 2014) was the Director-General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) of Nigeria from 2001 to 2008.

 

Dora Edemobi was born in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria to Chief Paul Young Edemobi who hailed from Nanka, Anambra State. She received her First School Leaving Certificate from St. Patrick's Primary School, Isuofia, Anambra State, in 1966 and had her West African School Certificate Examination (W.A.S.C) at Queen of the Rosary Secondary School Nsukka, Enugu State in 1973, where she graduated with Grade I Distinction consequently, she won the Eastern Nigerian Government Post Primary Scholarship and the Federal Government of Nigeria Undergraduate Scholarship. She went on to study pharmacology at the University of Nigeria (U.N.N.), graduating in 1978 and received her Ph.D. in ethnopharmacology in 1985.

 

She 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 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, U.N.N. In 1990, she became a Senior Lecturer and in 1996, she was made a Consultant Pharmacologist at the College of Medicine.

 

In 1996, Akunyili 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).

 

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. She put together a team of mostly female pharmacists and inspectors and started a war against counterfeit drugs that saw many open-air medicine markets across the country closed down. Including one in Kano State after her officers confiscated £140,000 worth of fake drugs.

 

On 26 December 2003, while Akunyili was on the way to Anambra State in Eastern Nigeria, gunmen fired on her convoy. The bullets narrowly missed her, with one of the bullets going through her headscarf and through the windscreen of the car. Prior to the incident, she had faced constant death threats against herself, her family, and her staff. In 2014, at least six people were charged with conspiracy and attempted murder, but acquitted and discharged in 2014.

 

In 2008, Akunyili was appointed Minister of Information and Communications.

She resigned her appointment as Minister of Information and Communications on December 16, 2010, after two years of service to run for office as senator representing Anambra Central in the National Assembly.

 

She ran for election as Senator for Anambra Central for the APGA in April 2011 but was defeated by Chris Ngige of the ACN. She immediately sent a petition to the Independent National Electoral Commission disputing the result.

 

She was a pharmacist and governmental administrator who gained international recognition and won several awards for her work in pharmacology, public health and human rights.

 

She was married to Chike Akunyili, a medical doctor, and they had six children: Ijeoma, Edozie, Somto, Njideka, Chidiogo and Obumneme. In 2017, one of her children, Njideka Akunyili Crosby was awarded the prestigious Genius Grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

 

In 2012, her book: The War Against Counterfeit Medicine: My Story was published.

 

Dora Akunyili died at a specialist cancer hospital in India on 7 June 2014 after a two-year battle with uterine cancer. Her funeral took place on 27 and 28 August, attended by many dignitaries from within Nigeria and beyond, including former President Goodluck Jonathan, and a former Nigerian military ruler General Yakubu Gowon. Akunyili was laid to rest at Agulu in Anambra State.

 

Akunyili received over 900 awards throughout her career, the highest number of awards ever received by any Nigerian. With over 900 awards, Historyville reports that over 100 awards were later discovered in her boxes.

 

Some of the awards Akunyili received were:

Order of the Federal Republic, OFR

Time magazine award 2006 ("One of the eighteen heroes of our time")

Person of the Year 2005 Award – Silverbird Communications Ltd, Lagos, 

5 January. 2006

Award of Excellence – Integrated World Services (IWS), December 2005

Award of Excellence – Advocacy for Democracy Dividends International, 

Lagos, 17 Dec. 2005

Meritorious Award 2005 – St. Michael's Military Catholic Church, Apapa, 

Lagos, 4 Dec. 2005

African Virtuous and Entrepreneurial Women Merit Award 2005,

African Biographical Network, December, 2005

Award for the Best Government Parastatal 

National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), December, 2005

An Icon of Excellence Award – The African Cultural Institute and Zenith Bank Plc, 

8 December 2005

2005 Grassroots Human Rights Campaigner Award London-based Human Rights

Defense Organization, 8 December, 2005

Most Innovative Director Award Federal Government College, Ijanikin, Lagos, 

October, 2005.

Integrity Award 2003 – Transparency International