Mahmud Tajo Sani Gaya, Executive Chairman of Gaya Local Government and the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) representative on healthcare matters in Kano State, has highlighted that health fellows being recruited under a federal government initiative will boost disease surveillance and enhance outbreak response throughout the state.
Dr Gaya made this statement on Friday the 16th of January, 2026, at the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) while addressing the final stage of interviews for the Federal Health Fellowship Programme.
He explained that the programme is aimed at ensuring that healthcare delivery at the local government level aligns with national and global standards, with a particular focus on early detection of and response to disease outbreaks.
“Health fellows will play a key role in disease surveillance at the grassroots. They will be among the first responders when outbreaks occur in our communities,” he said.
Dr Gaya further noted that more than 100,000 health professionals and allied cadres applied for the fellowship nationwide, from which candidates were screened by the Federal Ministry of Health.
Kano State received 132 shortlisted candidates, representing three candidates from each of the state’s 44 local government areas. These candidates were interviewed over a five-day period that began on Monday.
“At the end of the process, one fellow will be selected per local government. That means Kano will have 44 health fellows who will support healthcare delivery, surveillance and emergency response at the local level,” he said.
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He emphasized that transparency and fairness guided the selection process, pointing out that the interview panel included medical doctors from various specialisations, representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO), state ministries of health, academia, the emirate council, ALGON, the Primary Health Care Management Board, and the Ministry of Health.
Dr Gaya also revealed that the selected fellows would participate in multiple training sessions before deployment. “After the final selection, they will be invited to Abuja for general training. When they return, there will be step-down trainings, on-the-job trainings and continuous capacity building to ensure they are fully prepared,” he added.
He underscored that placing trained health fellows at the grassroots level would help close existing gaps in primary healthcare, particularly in hard-to-reach communities.