Dr. Abdu Mukhtar
National Coordinator, Presidential Initiative For Unlocking The Healthcare Chain (Pvac)
Dr. Abdu Mukhtar was appointed by the President as the National Coordinator of the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC) in November 2023, which aims to attract substantial new investments into the Nigerian healthcare system, stimulate local manufacturing, reduce drug costs and implement other transformative measures.
Prior to this appointment, Dr. Mukhtar was the Director of the Industrial and Trade Development Department at the Africa Development Bank. In this role, he oversaw the implementation of the Bank’s Industrialization Strategy across the African continent, leading teams in industrial policy and trade development, investment climate, and private sector operations spanning industries and services sectors (ICT, Manufacturing, Mining, Oil & Gas, Real Estate, Private Equity, etc.). He also supported the regions in public sector operations.
Before joining the AfDB, Dr. Mukhtar was the Group Chief Strategy Officer of the Dangote Group of Industries, Nigeria, from 2014-2017. In that role, he assisted the President/CEO in setting overall strategic direction for the Company and overseeing key aspects of the strategic planning processes for the group, business units, subsidiaries and associated companies. He played a key role in driving major activities, projects and initiatives of the Company, including expansion of cement manufacturing into 14 African countries, multi-billion dollar Oil Refinery and Petrochemical Plant, plus key joint ventures in Power, Oil & Gas as well as Agriculture sectors.
Dr. Mukhtar started his career as a Medical Officer at the Ministry of Health in Kano in 1991, and later worked as a Research Associate at the Boston University Medical Centre in the United States of America where he performed groundbreaking research in the Pulmonary Center and cloned a human gene. He returned to Nigeria following a two-year tenure as a Management Consultant in the United States. Between 2003 and 2007 he worked at the Bureau of Public Enterprises in the Presidency – Abuja Nigeria, as Transaction Advisor and Special Assistant to the Director General, then as Senior Special Assistant to the Minister on Economic Matters in the Federal Capital Territory Administration in Abuja, where he implemented key aspects of the government’s economic reform program. He was chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on the sale of federal government houses, for which over $800 million was raised, and he laid the foundation for Nigeria’s mortgage system.
Between 2007 and 2011, he worked as the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at Abuja Investments Company Limited, a Holding Company of the Federal Capital Territory Administration that provides the interface with the Private Sector and manages Government’s assets and investments in portfolio companies. In this role he provided strategic direction, managed day-to-day operations and chaired the boards of a dozen portfolio companies in diverse sectors. He partnered with both domestic and international investors to develop and execute public private partnerships to deliver outstanding profitable growth as well as the implementation of major Real Estate Development projects. He was nominated Nigeria’s CEO of the Year in 2008 by This Day Newspapers and has founded/co-founded a number of entrepreneurial ventures.
Dr. Mukhtar holds a Doctor of Medicine degree (MB.BS) from the Ahmadu Bello University School of Medicine – Zaria, Nigeria; A Doctor of Philosophy degree (Ph.D.) in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine from the Boston University School of Medicine; a Master in Business Administration degree (MBA) from the Harvard Business School, and a Master in Public Administration degree (MPA) from Harvard Kennedy School. He also obtained certificates in
Leadership and Corporate Governance from INSEAD, Oxford and Harvard Universities. He was an Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellow and the recipient of several international awards
