By Muhammad Amaan
Five winners of the 2024 3rd edition of Dr Aminu Magashi Annual Award of Excellence for Frontline Health Workers were celebrated and honoured with awards of excellence and cash prizes by the Aminu Magashi Garba Foundation (AMG Foundation).
The receipiants were awarded for their outstanding contributions to the improvement of healthcare services in the federal capital territory.
The award which is aimed at recognizing and appreciating the unsung frontline health workers in Nigeria took place on Tuesday at the Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN) Headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria.
In his welcome address, the Founder and Chair of AMG Foundation, Dr Aminu Magashi Garba congratulated the awardees and urged them to do more in the discharge of their duties.
Dr Magashi stated that the presentation of the 2024 edition of the award was done in Bauchi and Kano states last year.
“The 2024 3rd edition of the award for Abuja has crossed over to 2025 due to a lot of engagements from our part and from the awardees but we are happy that it is holding today in January, the first month of the year.
“This year, we have increased the cash prizes from N25,000 to N30,000 while the transport remains at N10,000, so each awardee will go home with N40,000,” he added.
Dr Magashi further announced that the AMG Foundation team will also conduct a facility-based visits to the awardees to see the outstanding work they are doing, in order to encourage them to do more.
“This year’s edition will be extended to other states aside Bauchi and Kano and Abuja and also a new award category for health journalists who reports impactful health stories will be added and adequate planning will be made,” Magashi stated.
Giving a brief overview of the award, the Director Operations of AMG Foundation, Mallam Jalo Sulaiman highlighted that the initial idea brought about by an Abuja based NGO was to honour Dr Magashi for his outstanding contributions to the development of the Nigerian health sector.
“But the idea was modified by AMG Foundation team and dedicated the award to unsung frontline health workers working at primary healthcare centres in Nigeria,” he said.
Mallam Sulaiman explained that the maiden edition was commissioned with 10 awardees on June 23, 2022 in Abuja which marked the 2022 UN Public Service Day and they received award plaques, certificates, cash prizes of N25,000 and N5000 for local transport, respectively.
He added that, “Categories celebrated are most friendly staff of the year, most dedicated staff of the year, most exemplary staff of the year, most caring staff of the year and best staff of the year for standard healthcare practice.
“The second edition was extended to Kano state and it celebrated and honoured 10 awardees from Kano and eight from Abuja in the categories of most dedicated volunteer staff, most punctual staff, most safety compliance staff, most patient friendly staff and most hygienic staff.
“Each of the 18 awardees received an award plaque, a certificate, cash prize of N25,000 as well as N5000 for local transport.
“The third edition celebrated and honoured seven awardees from Bauchi and nine from Kano in 2024 and as a continuation, is today, January 2025 celebrating and honouring five winners from Abuja with the awards of excellence, cash prizes of N25,000 and N10,000 for transport.”
The winners in the Abuja category are; Muhammad Mustapha Yahya, most committed volunteer staff; Zainab Ladan, most committed volunteer staff, Azie Emenike Emmanuel, most dedicated staff, Binta M. Ahmed, most dedicated staff and Mary Gekpa, most patient friendly staff.
Expressing their gratitude to AMG Foundation and its Chair, the awardees, through their representative, Malama Binta M. Ahmed said they feel honoured for recognizing their efforts and pledged to do more in the future.
