UNFPA CONDOLES WITH NPC OVER DEATH OF CHAIRMAN, PLEDGES CONTINUED PARTNERSHIP*

*UNFPA CONDOLES WITH NPC OVER DEATH OF CHAIRMAN, PLEDGES CONTINUED PARTNERSHIP

AJAGBE ADEYEMI TESLIM

SPONSORED BY: H&H

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has paid a condolence visit to the National Population Commission (NPC) over the death of its Chairman, Dr. Aminu Yusuf, pledging to sustain the partnership he built and the seven-point agenda he championed.

The UNFPA Nigeria Resident Representative, Ms. Muriel Mafico, led a delegation to the NPC Headquarters in Abuja, today, 22nd September 2026, where she described the late chairman as a visionary leader whose death left the organisation in shock and grief.

Mafico, who was received by the Federal Commissioner for Plateau State, currently overseeing the office of the Chairman, Dr. Mrs. Mary Ishaya Afan, mni, alongside other Federal Commissioners, the Director-General and Management staff, said the visit was occasioned by the passing of a leader whose impact was felt far beyond Nigeria.

She recalled that the late chairman hit the ground running immediately after assuming office at the end of last year, noting that he held his first meeting with the UNFPA team at the UN House on 16 December 2025, a period when many would have deferred engagements until the new year.

“He made us feel comfortable in his presence,” Mafico said, adding that the partnership between the NPC and UNFPA “goes beyond UNFPA; it is really at the apex of the UN in Nigeria.”

The Resident Representative also reminisced about Dr. Yusuf’s first and last meeting with the Executive Director of UNFPA, on the sideline of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York, describing the encounter as proof that “the agenda in Nigeria is not a Nigerian agenda; it is a global agenda.”

She further pointed to the late chairman’s leadership at the last World Population Day celebrations, held less than a month before his passing, as a testament to his ability to bring together young people, legislators, the diplomatic community, ministers and members of the wider society around the population agenda.

“He was very bold in talking about the importance of a credible census for Nigeria, which is also a census for Africa and the world,” she said, stressing that the Commission had been left with a clear pathway anchored on credible data. “Credible data is our responsibility, a shared responsibility.”

Mafico conveyed condolences from the UNFPA Regional Director and confirmed that the UNFPA Executive Director was aware of the development, assuring the Commission that it could continue to count on UNFPA as a partner in driving forward the seven-point agenda the late chairman articulated upon assuming office.

Responding, the Federal Commissioner overseeing the office of the Chairman, Dr. Mrs. Mary Ishaya Afan, said the Commission remained devastated by the loss, likening it to a long-awaited messiah who appeared only briefly before departing.

“If there is any time we have needed the UNFPA, it is now that we need you more, for us to be able to stabilise and move forward,” she said.

Afan disclosed that all Federal Commissioners, together with the Director-General, at a valedictory session held after the seven-day prayers in honour of the late chairman, unanimously resolved that whoever succeeds him would be required to adopt and continue his seven-point agenda and all the projects he initiated.

“We are praying that God will give us another captain that will come and steer the ship and take us to the promised land,” she said, assuring the delegation that the Commission was already making preparations for “one of the best credible censuses ever recorded in the entire Africa, not only in Nigeria.”

Also speaking, the Federal Commissioner for Rivers State, Prof. Henry Ogiri, described the late chairman as a man of vision whose seven-point agenda energised the Commission, urging the UNFPA Resident Representative to extend the good working relationship she enjoyed with the late chairman to his successor.

The Director-General of the Commission, Dr. Abuh Mohammed, described the late chairman as a democrat and an administrator who transformed the Commission, pledging that the Commission would sustain both the seven-point agenda and its critical partnership with UNFPA.