Team

Vivianne Ihekweazu is the Managing Director of Nigeria Health and leads the strategic direction of the organisation and is responsible for designing and implementing health communication and advocacy strategies.

Vivianne has over 20 years' experience as a communication professional and played a leading role in the COVID-19 crisis & emergency risk communications team, supporting the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. She has an MBA from the Gordon Institute of Business Science (University of Pretoria) and is an African Public Health Leaders Fellow at the Centre for Universal Health at Chatham House.

Christopher is an accomplished accountant with over twelve years multi-sectoral experience managing accounting and financial systems. He has an established track record as a financial management professional having managed an extensive portfolio of donor funded projects from USAID, CDC, DFID, Global Fund and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, making his mark as a recognised financial management authority in the humanitarian and development world. Christopher currently leads all grant budget preparations, implementations, financial reporting, risk control and management at Nigeria Health Watch.

Kemisola oversees all program activities and leads implementation of the Global Advocacy and Prevent Epidemics projects. With a keen interest in health policy, advocacy and communications, she has worked across health security, health financing and health systems strengthening focus areas, and ardently advocates for issues in these areas. She has ongoing research interests in the use of evidence to influence health policy and regularly contributes to the Nigeria Health Watch editorial on this.

Onyedikachi is a Public health specialist with 14 years of work experience in the health and development sector in Nigeria. She is a passionate and as strong advocate for women’s health and youth development as these groups are significant but underserved contributors to societal development. She has a Master’s degree in Public health from the University of Lagos and prior to her work with Nigeria health watch, she led demand generation and health communication for Maternal, newborn and child health program implementation with Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Program-The Challenge Initiative and USAID funded project implemented by The Society for Family Health.  She is Senior Programme and Advocacy Manager at Nigeria Health Watch where she leads the team in strategic engagements with key stakeholders to advocate for improved and quality maternal and child health care.  

Chibuike has nearly a decade of experience in health communication and public health advocacy. He is passionate about leveraging strategic communication and storytelling to advocate for impactful public health policies. His experience spans social enterprise sector and has received various awards and fellowships including Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, LEDE fellowship, and Journalist-in-residence fellowship. He writes, facilitates training, and mentors journalists on solutions journalism within and outside Nigeria and currently leading the Solutions Journalism Africa Initiative as Senior Programme Manager. Chibuike has a bachelor's in medical laboratory science.

Safiya Shuaibu Isa is an advocacy and communications expert with 18 years of experience delivering quality work in mainstream media and the development sector. Safiya started as a producer for a weekly legislative programme after which she joined the public service as the liaison officer the Centre for Management Development (CMD) in Nigeria.  

She has worked in the development sector in northern Nigeria to design advocacy and communication strategies that inform demand creation and influence policy designs for RMNCH and Social Protection. She is a skilled learning and dissemination event manager with a healthy network. She is a graduate of English and holds a Master’s Degree in Development Studies.

Beti is a storyteller, writer and editor with extensive expertise in health communications, creative, evidence-based writing and research. Beti's work has been published in the anthology, 'The Different Shades of a Feminine Mind', Bellanaija, Daily Trust Newspaper, the Guardian Newspaper and of course, Nigeria Health Watch. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading, UK.

Beti Baiye is the Editor at Nigeria Health Watch where she oversees the publishing of thought leadership and solutions-oriented stories that provide Nigerians with the information they need to influence health policy, make informed decisions about their health and advocate for an improved health system.

Bunmi Oyebanji Obot has 9+ years of experience leading and supporting results-driven advocacy and policy programmes, campaigns and projects in public health, development, agriculture, and telecommunications sectors. She has a proven track record of leveraging strategic communications, multi stakeholder partnerships, and project management skills to lead advocacy campaigns, influence teams and partners to create measurable impact and achieve results against target key performance indicators. Bunmi has a BSc. Economics and Development Studies from Covenant University, and an MBA from Coventry University, United Kingdom.

Oluomachukwu Omeje is a Program Manager and is responsible for providing programmatic and technical support across NHW’s partner programmes using a human-centred design approach. Also, she implements health communication and advocacy strategies. She has over five years’ experience in designing and implementing MNCH and other health programs, particularly in leadership and governance, Human Resource for Health (HRH), service delivery, health information systems and health financing. Specifically, she played a lead role in the first-ever nationwide Primary Health Care HRH Profiling towards improving MNCH outcomes by ensuring the availability of quality healthcare workers at the community level.

Asari is a Communications Manager with more than 9 years of experience in media and communications. She has a BA in International Relations from the University of Durham, two master’s Degrees from the University of Sheffield and King's College London and is currently working on a PhD in Communications and Media Studies.  Prior to joining Nigeria Health Watch, Asari worked at the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development, Ventures Africa and The Election Network under Anvarie Tech. She is keen on influencing the Nigerian media space as well as driving thoughtful narratives for the Nigerian millennial mind.

Misbahu has nearly 5-years' experience in health and development communications. He is a ‘22 fellow of the Nigeria Health Watch’s Solutions Journalism Africa Initiative. Misbahu worked as a consultant for the NCDC and NHW in 2021 to document human interest stories about Kano State's response to COVID-19. Before joining the NHW proper, Misbahu worked at Nigerian Tracker and The Citizen Reports and was the Kano State supervisor for the Community Health Watch project. His work has been published in the Daily Trust Newspaper, People’s Daily Newspaper, Social Voices, and, of course, Nigeria Health Watch. Misbahu has a bachelor’s in statistics.

Michael holds a master's degree in Global Health Delivery with a specialization in Health Management from the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda. A Global Health Specialist experienced in health communications, evidence-based advocacy, project management, research, good stakeholder management, evidence-based campaign design, and monitoring & evaluation. He has core expertise in SEO and Google Analytics, social media strategy, digital marketing, web content development, blogging, project management, production of audio/visual contents and data visualization. Additionally, he is passionate about health financing, maternal and new-born health, and health equity.

Damilola Ilori is an internationally certified HR professional with more than 8 years of experience across diverse sectors and industries such as consulting, Retail, Healthcare and NGO to name a few.

She is a certified member of the Human Resource Certification Institute and CIPM Nigeria.

Thelma Chioma Thomas-Abeku is a public health advocate, who is passionate about access to quality and equitable healthcare delivery for all through Universal Health Coverage.

As health thought leader, she has authored and co-authored opinion pieces to strengthen advocacy on several health issues including Maternal and New-born and Child Health (MNCH), Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, (WASH), and Gender Equality.

Thelma is experienced in the development programme and has worked extensively in different communities across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria.

Samuel is a creative and inquisitive individual who is always seeking to learn and grow. By profession, he is a digital illusionist, using his skills to craft unique and captivating designs. Photography is also a passion of his, and he brings his artistic eye to everything he does. Samuel is known for his attention to detail and his deep understanding of human behaviour, which allows him to create designs that speak to a wide range of audiences.

A digital production professional with years of experience in cinematography, content creation, script writing, infographics design, video/photo editing. Also proficient in public health research, health communication and social media management.

Oguntola Ibukun is Programme Coordinator at Nigeria Health Watch. He is a research, public health, as well as communications professional. He has core expertise in initiating and managing projects; health communications and creative, evidence-based writing, and research. Ibukun has over the past two years led a Global Health Advocacy Incubator funded project focused on increasing sustained epidemic preparedness funding in Nigeria. With the project, the team initiated and amplified the conversations online around epidemic preparedness in Nigeria."

Peter Ameh is a financial professional with seven years of practical experience providing first-rate financial and operational management services within the humanitarian and development sector.

Prior to his employment at Nigeria Health Watch, Peter had worked with Mary Dinah Foundation as Finance and Operations Manager on project financed by United State Agency for International Development (USAID). He has also worked as Project Accountant, Administration Officer, and Finance Assistant with various International/Local NGOs including Centre for International Corporation in Health and Development, FHI360/Achieving Health Nigeria Initiative, Action Against Hunger, Neem Foundation, and the Society for Family Health on projects funded by donors such as USAID, GF, BMGF, UKAID, DFID, WB, and GAC.

A public health and communication expert with over 5 years of experience in project management, coordination, and implementation with a keen interest in health promotion and Communication.

Dabri is a Programme Coordinator at the Nigeria Health Watch. She has extensive technical and administrative experience providing oversight and accountability for projects focused on infectious disease prevention, management, and control. 
The nucleus of her work at the NHW involves coordinating programme implementation activities. She is passionate about community development interventions such as increasing access to Sexual and Reproductive Health services and improving outcomes of Maternal, New-born and Child Health.

Kenneth is the Nigeria Health Watch's Social Media Analyst. He is a social media expert who can seamlessly integrate various social media platforms to work together. He specializes in developing organizations' online presence using social media platforms. In the last two years, he has demonstrated the ability to do this effectively.

Onyinye is a researcher and a health enthusiast. She is an emerging public health communications professional interested in health systems strengthening, health policy development, health promotion and education, health communications and advocacy, and thought leadership. She currently works at Nigeria Health Watch as a Programme Executive. 

She provides efficient and responsive administrative and organisational support to the managing director. She is focused, organized, consistent, punctual, and reliable. Onyinye holds a bachelor’s degree in Parasitology and Entomology from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State and aspires to obtain a master’s degree in Public Health. 

Hadiza work proactively to produce and coordinate written, visual and digital content for the range of Nigeria Health Watch social media platforms, Pitch story ideas to the Nigeria Health Watch editor, and write articles focused on Nigeria Health Watch’s advocacy issues, Support in writing and disseminating press releases, briefings and editorials to the local media to increase Nigeria Health Watch’s visibility. Hadiza joined Nigeria Health Watch in October 2020 from KAFTAN TV, a media organization where she serves as a writer, newscaster, and reporter.

Hadiza holds a bachelor’s degree in History from Kaduna state university Kaduna and she aspires to obtain a master’s degree in public health.

Thomas is a motivated finance and administrative professional with 4+years’ experience of ledger processes, petty cash management and tax administration. He holds a National Certificate in Education (NCE) in Economics/Geography and is currently building his career on risk, operations, and financial management.

Thomas possesses excellent computer skills, especially MS Office products with the ability to work with little or no supervision. He is articulate, professional, and able to communicate in a clear, positive manner with clients and staff, and is familiar with donor-funded programs and non-governmental organizations in Nigeria.

Stephanie works as an Office Assistant at Nigeria Health Watch. She schedules and manages meetings, manages team calendars, and collates and distributes incoming mails. She has vast experience in supporting organisation's administration work. She works to contribute to the efficient day-to-day administrative duties of an organisation. Stephanie has an Ordinary National Diploma in Computer Science from Ecolyte Technical Academy, Abuja.