ABUJA, WEDNESDAY, 17TH JUNE, 2020: The Honourable Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire who represented Nigeria and His Excellency, the Ambassador of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Jon Tong Chol who represented DPRK have taken the cooperation between the two countries in the area of Health to a level of putting pens to paper to endorse a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
While welcoming the Korean delegation to the MOU signing event which held at the Health Ministry’s Headquarters, Dr. Ehanire described the agreement to be on area which is very dear to the heart of Nigeria at the moment when the world and the country are passing through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Minister mentioned the areas of interest to Nigeria in the cooperation between the two countries to include that of public health and primary health care which he said “is even more urgent now at the stage of the community transmission of COVID-19, when the health systems of all the countries are being put to test.”
The Minister further said that “We have seen strong and more resilient health systems around the world collapsing with the disease outbreak….It is a time when all countries need to revisit their health system, both the public health and the individual person’s health.”
Ehanire also said that this is a time when every country needs one another more than ever before. He disclosed to his visitors that “Nigeria has done very well to ensure that its health system does not collapse.” “COVID-19”, he said “is a virus which nobody knows its nature very well; the future is not very clear hence there is need for knowledge sharing, where the world and all humanity work together to defend their citizens.” “It is against this background that we are pleased to be a part of this agreement.” We know that our country is not among the richest and not among the most technologically developed. We are inclined to share your experiences, your level of development which we see as very valuable, therefore, Your Excellency, we take this agreement to be very sacrosanct to govern the relationship between Nigeria and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the hope that other agreements will follow in other areas – education, research, and also in industrial life.”
The Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) (North Korea) have over the years maintained a cordial relationship. Although there was no formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two countries, efforts in that direction began in 2014.
The DPRK forwarded a draft MOU in the field of Health and Medical Sciences, several interactions took place and a consensus was reached.
The Bilateral Branch of the Federal Ministry of Health forwarded the agreed document to the Legal Unit of the Health Ministry and secured the ratification of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice in March, 2017. This is in line with the protocol of diplomatic engagement with other countries.
A side meeting was held in May, 2018 during the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, both parties consolidated on the Agreement.
At the signing event of Wednesday, 17th June, 2020, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was informed of all the development and it gave approval for the Honourable Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire to sign the Agreement on behalf of Nigeria with a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry Counselor, Prince Adewale Awolesi were present at the signing event.
Present at the MOU signing event were the Honourable Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, who signed on behalf of Nigeria; Mr. A.M. Abdullahi the Permanent Secretary, Health; Dr. Omobolanle Olowu, Director, PPP, FMOH; Barrister Gregory F. Zi, the Director, Legal Services, FMOH; the Director-General, National Centre for Disease Control, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu; Dr. U.M. Ene-Obong, the Director, Public Health; Moshood Oluki Lawal, Director, Food, Drugs and Service, FMOH; Musa Ibrahim, Director, Health Planning, Research and Statistics, FMOH; Courage Adeniyi, Asst. Director, Bilateral FMOH; Dr. Chris Osa Isokpunwu, Director & Senior Technical Assistant to the Honourable Minister of Health; Special Assistant to the Honourable Minister of Health, Itohan Ehanire and Olujimi Oyetomi, the Director, Information, Media and Public Relations, FMOH.
The DPRK Team was led by His Excellency, the Ambassador of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Jon Tong Chol; and the team includes the 1st Secretary, Kim Chon Ji, DPRK Embassy in Nigeria; 2nd Secretary, Li Song H DPRK Embassy in Nigeria; and the 3rd Secretary, Kim Hyok, DPRK Embassy in Nigeria.
The highlight of the occasion was the signing of the M.O.U on Health by the Chief Representatives of both countries which was supervised by the Director, Legal Services, Federal Ministry of health.
For her intervention, the Director, Public Health, FMoH, Dr. U.M. Ene-Obong, demanded that the DPRK Ambassador to Nigeria and his team should consider assisting Nigeria much in the areas of COVID-19 issue, elaborate work which FMoH has to do on “infection, prevention and control, risk communication and risk reduction as well as mental health issues, psychosocial, social issues and occupational health issues.”
The Director-General, National Centre for Disease Control, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu in his intervention expressed the wish to have the DPRK’s model of Centre of Disease Control replicated in Nigeria saying “We are a large population but one model we’ve been looking up to in many years is the Korea Centre for Disease Control; we have looked up to the Korea model institute, model government agency that we will like to emulate in many ways. We have seen how you incorporated the response of all infectious diseases; safety from chronic diseases into one strategic public health agency responsible for the delivery of this critical functions to the people of Korea. We want to grow this relationship, we have been looking at the KCDC from a distance, but we look forward to potentially opening a door to bilateral visits between the leadership of KCDC inviting them to Nigeria, but also having the opportunity of visiting and seeing how you have grown that institute that has helped the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Korea.”
In rounding up, the Honourable Minister of Health said it is uppermost in the mindset of Nigeria to have universal health coverage to provide basic health to all citizens, hence our desire to learn all the models available in the world to help us achieve the objective. That is why we are also interested in your own system in your country.”
By Olujimi Oyetomi,
Director, Information, Media & Public Relations,
Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria.
