Sani ALIYU

University Hospitals. He was also the national Chair of the ID SCE Exam board until 2017, responsible for the delivery of Infectious diseases exit exams for trainees in the UK. Considering the polity as very pivotal to the successful funding of the epidemic through domestic resourcing, Dr. Aliyu engaged with political and private sector leaders at national and sub-national levels to mobilize significant resources for the AIDS response through strategic engagements. Under his leadership, the budgetary allocation to NACA grew by over 100% in two years. This meant more PLHIV placed on life saving drugs with government support. Additionally, he extracted commitment from the governors to allocate 0.5% of their monthly statutory allocation to AIDS response in their respective states. Partnering with the private sector, he established the HIV/AIDS Trust Fund to mobilize contributions of the private sector to the national AIDS response. The management structure of this fund is modelled after the Global Fund. The integrity and trust Dr. Aliyu commands has turned Nigeria’s AIDS response into development partners’ comfort zone for investment. Barely a week after resumption, Dr. Sani Aliyu travelled to the Global Fund Headquarters in Geneva to negotiate the restoration of the NACA Global fund grant and committed to executing the grant in an efficient and transparent manner devoid of any financial risk. This action demonstrated his proactiveness, commitment, sense of purpose and sacrifice. Nigeria’s Global Fund grant which was suspended in 2015, was restored afterwards. Dr. Sani Aliyu had a productive working relationship with civil society, especially, especially people living with HIV and the key affected population by ensuring they have the opportunity to meaningfully contribute to the national response to AIDS. He provided funding for institutional and living support to PLHIV network in Nigeria and their members, regularly engaging with them and other civil society networks. He promoted and supported removal of all forms of barriers to access to services for vulnerable and key affected populations. He is very supportive of on-going reforms and governance strengthening of the Country Coordinating Mechanism of the Global Fund. He made it a duty to render his stewardship of Nigeria’s AIDS response to the Civil Society Accountability Forum each year. Dr. Aliyu demonstrated a high sense of transparency in governance since resumption at NACA. He initiated the whistle blowing policy which encourages all staff to report any untoward or unethical behaviour directly to him via email and/or the use of a suggestion box. He also restructured the organization to be more efficient in its operations, whilst ensuring round pegs are put in round holes”. This brought a new energy and sense of purpose to the organization and its staff leading to improved performance, respect from all and a much improved corporate image for the organization. Only recently, the United States government honoured Dr. Sani Aliyu as a “PEPFAR Hero.” The statement on the US government’s twitter handle reads “Dr. Aliyu led the Nigeria HIV/AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey – the largest HIV-specific survey in history. Under his leadership as DG of NACA the survey was completed in a record 9 months and is pivotal in efforts to halt the epidemic.” He is also the recipient of the APIN Excellence in Service award in recognition of his dedicated service and commitment to Public Health in Nigeria.