In celebration of his 57th birthday, a public affairs analyst, Ibrahim Yahaya Muye, has described the Minister of Health, Prof Mohammed Ali Pate, as a global health genius, whose impacts in health sector goes beyond Nigeria.

Muye in a statement said Pate has travelled to more than 100 countries across the world, proffering solutions to global health problems. He stated that Pate’s patriotism knows no bound; a trait he clearly demonstrated when he turned down appointment with a global health company, GaviVaccine Alliance, to take up the ministerial job in President Bola Tinubu administration.

Muye said: “Nigerians will not forget soon how Prof Pate turned down the leadership of the Gavi-Vaccine Alliance to take a ministerial appointment in 2023, a rare motivation to serve his fatherland. “He lost the opportunity to lead the world largest financier of AIDS, TB & Malaria prevention, treatment and care programmes, despite emerging victorious in a competitive contestant for the position of the Executive Director of The Global Fund in 2017.

“For those who know what it means, especially in the global health sector, leading either the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Gavi – Vaccine Alliance or the Global Fund is a rare feat and that was my wish for him.