Africa CDC Appoints Prof. Osinbajo As Senior Strategic Advisor To The Director General

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Addis Ababa, 6 April 2026 — The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has appointed H.E. Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, GCON, former Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as Senior Strategic Advisor to the Africa CDC Director General, H.E. Dr. Jean Kaseya.

The appointment comes at a pivotal moment as Africa CDC advances the Africa Health Security and Sovereignty (AHSS) Agenda to strengthen Africa’s voice in global health, expand domestic and innovative financing, accelerate local manufacturing of health commodities, and build resilient health systems for pandemic preparedness, prevention and response across the continent.

Prof. Osinbajo served as Vice-President of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023 and previously as Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007. A Professor of Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, he is widely regarded as one of Africa’s leading legal, public policy and governance thinkers. During his years in public office, he chaired Nigeria’s Economic Sustainability Committee, helped steer major economic reform efforts, led ease-of-doing-business reforms through the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, and was closely associated with some of the country’s most significant social investment programmes.

“Professor Osinbajo brings exceptional experience at the intersection of governance, finance, law, and diplomacy. At a time when Africa must act with greater ambition and authority on the future of health, his leadership will be invaluable. This appointment reflects Africa CDC’s commitment to mobilizing African leadership of the highest calibre in service of the continent’s health security, sovereignty, and development”. said Dr Jean Kaseya, Director General of Africa CDC.

In his new role, Prof. Osinbajo will advise on Africa’s positioning in global health architecture reform, sustainable and sovereign health financing, local manufacturing, strategic partnerships, and policy leadership for Africa CDC and the African Union.

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In a similar vein, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has also appointed Prof. Osinbajo as Champion of the Transforming Health Financing in Africa Initiative.

This appointment comes on the back of his ongoing work with Future Perspectives, the organization he co-founded and chairs, which spearheads multi-sectoral efforts in health and climate financing across the continent.

The former VP will advocate for African nations to join an emerging coalition of early-adopter countries while engaging Finance Ministries to formally embed health investments within their respective macro-fiscal frameworks.

His mandate further includes mobilizing development banks, institutional investors, and strategic partners to support a new financing architecture, ensuring the successful execution of this ambitious continental agenda.