Methodology

Yinka Babalola is the Country Manager for the International Budget Partnership (IBP) in Nigeria. She is an economist with years of experience in policy-making support in the areas of Public Financial Management and Fiscal Policy. She previously worked with the Nigerian government as a Technical Adviser to the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation and the Special Adviser on Fiscal and Macroeconomic Policy to the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning. Yinka also consulted with several international development agencies including UNICEF, the World Bank, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.Yinka has a BSc in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria as well as an MSc in Development Economics and a PhD in Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. In her last role, she was the Special Adviser on Fiscal and Macroeconomic Policy to the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning in Nigeria.

Dr. Gafar Alawode, Managing Partner/Program Director at Development Governance International (DGI) Consult. He is an experienced Public Health practitioner and a seasoned Programme Manager. He has managed several donor-funded development projects at the senior level in Nigeria and other developing countries, including Liberia and Uganda.

He was a Country Manager for Liverpool Associates in Tropical Health (LATH), State Team Lead for the DFID-funded Partnership for Transforming Health System 2 (PATHS2), Chief of Party for the USAID-funded Health Finance and Governance project, and Country Director for Health Policy Plus.

Gafar designed and worked with other stakeholders to introduce Universal Health Coverage (UHC)-related innovations, including the Legislative Network for UHC and UHC 2023 Forum, where he led a team of health policy advocates to develop a citizen-led health agenda and health security agenda geared towards shaping the health manifestos of political parties.

He was appointed a member of the core group for health financing resilience community of practice by the World Bank, and he led a team of other experts to prepare a policy position paper that advised 54 Commonwealth Ministers of Health on effective aid utilization and domestic resource mobilization for health. He was the Principal Investigator for Nigeria’s policy analysis of health taxes project, which was funded by the Alliance for Health Policy and System Research.

Vivianne Ihekweazu is the Managing Director of Nigeria Health Watch, a health communication and advocacy organization advocating for improved health and access to services in Nigeria. She leads the strategic direction and designs health communication and advocacy strategies for governments, nonprofits, and development partners.

With over 20 years of experience, her work focuses on nutrition, maternal and child health, routine immunization, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and health security. She played a leading role in COVID-19 crisis communications supporting the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

Vivianne holds an MSc in Global Health Policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and is an African Public Health Leaders Fellow at Chatham House’s Centre for Universal Health.

Dr. Oluwatayo David Aduloju, the CEO of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Africa’s foremost private sector-led think tank and policy advocacy group, is a Policy Entrepreneur, Strategist, Economist, Scholar, Teacher and Global Development Expert, most sought after for his competencies and capabilities in translating strategic agendas into results. Before his current role, he served as COO and Senior Fellow, Economic Policy, Strategy and Competitiveness at the NESG and Okun Model Economic Fellow for Africa and the Middle East. 

His over two decades of experience and track record demonstrate his commitment to developing and advising leaders, organisations, and nations to stimulate performance, sustainability, governance, and impact across private, public, and non-profit sectors. He has worked across several economic, social, and political reform areas and sectors, across Nigeria, 14 other African countries and the Middle East, where he has advised business executives and heads of government (including former President Yar’adua and Obasanjo).

Dr. Adaeze Oreh is a Consultant Family Physician, Public Health Specialist, and the Honourable Commissioner for Health in Rivers State. Prior to her appointment, she was the Country Director of Planning, Research, and Statistics for Nigeria’s National Blood Service Commission (NBSC), and a Senior Health Policy Advisor with Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health.
With over two decades of private and public healthcare experience, she was a pioneer Member of the Governing Council of Pamo University of Medical Sciences – Nigeria’s first private university of medical sciences. She is a Fellow of the West African College of Physicians, Kofi Annan Global Health Leadership, Aspen Institute, Aspen Global Innovators Group, Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Royal Society of Public Health, and a Member of the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood Global Advisory Group and the International Society of Blood Transfusion COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Working Group.
She advocates for respectful, quality healthcare, health equity, universal health  coverage, and quality medical education, and was one of 15 accomplished ‘Amujae Leaders’ in Africa awarded by the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development and was named a Neglected Tropical Diseases Champion by the Global First Ladies Alliance and The End Fund; and National Champion for Reproductive Health by White Ribbon Alliance.