Abuja , 7 November 2006 -- A new World Health Organization (WHO) Representative has arrived in Abuja, Nigeria. He is Dr. Peter Eriki, immediate past WHO Representative in Kenya. He replaces Dr. Mohammed Belhocine, who has been reassigned from the country, after three years of service.

Dr. Eriki brings to Nigeria a wealth of knowledge and over fifteen years experience in the WHO system. Before being Representative in Kenya, where he spent the last six years, Dr. Eriki had served as Representative in Angola for four years and also had the opportunity of working at both the Headquarters in Geneva and the Regional Office in Brazzaville.

At his first meeting with staff on assumption of office, Dr. Eriki told them he would operate an open door policy. “Don’t sit on problems and wait until they explode”, he said. “It is better we address them together as soon as possible”.

Saying he was coming from a background of challenging situations, Dr. Eriki enjoined the staff to work closely with him. In his words, “I am not going to be the only one doing these things, we are going to do them together. Our success should be credit for all of us”.

The new WHO helmsman said he would continue the good works of his predecessor, describing himself as a chief “servant” who would work together with colleagues, nationals and partners. On his expectations, he said, “Let’s advance the country’s agenda. Make people healthy, you will see the economies begin to pick up and even get better and better”, since according to him, health is central to human development.

Dr. Eriki, who said Nigeria was a great country, said that looking at the level of knowledge and training capacities in this country, Nigeria has the resources to pull the entire continent. “There are good people, trained people in the country. We need to see how best to work with all these wealth of people”, he added.

For more information, please contact:

 Austine Oghide, HIP, WHO-Nigeria
Tel: 234 (0) 8034022390. 
E-mail: oghidea [at] ng.afro.who.int
Website: http://www.who.int/countries/nga/en