A professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Bala Audu, has emerged as President of the Nigerian Medical Association. Audu, who will pilot the affairs of the association for the next two years was elected at the annual delegates meeting held in Calabar, Cross Rivers state.
The association in a statement on Sunday also disclosed that the Founder of the Benjamin Olowojebutu Foundation, Dr Benjamin Olowojebutu, was elected the vice president. Others who were elected include the Chairman of the Benue State chapter of the association, Usha Anenga, as vice president 2; Ben Egbo as secretary general; Wale Lasisi as the assistant secretary general; Celestine Ugwoke as treasurer; Harrison Omokhua as financial secretary, and Manir Bature as the national publicity secretary. “The delegates drawn from NMA branches in the country elected new officers to lead the NMA for the next two years,” the association said.
The new officers will lead the association’s activities from 2024 to 2026, after which another leadership cycle will emerge. Each leadership cycle of the NMA is expected to last for two years. In the previous election, Uche Ojinmah, a consultant dermatologist was elected president of the association along with some other members. The new NMA president is a 1988 medical graduate from the University of Maiduguri.
He obtained a master’s degree from the University of London in 1994 and became a fellow in obstetrics and gynecology in 1997. Audu also obtained a certificate in Hospital Administration and Health Services from the National Institute of Public Health, Japan in 2008. Audu worked at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital until his appointment in 2017 as the provost of the College of Medical Sciences at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi. The maternal health expert was later appointed the vice-chancellor of the Federal University of Health Sciences, Azare, in Bauchi state.
Audu was said to have trained many young doctors in obstetrics and has conducted numerous research works on cancer prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment.
