The Chikwe Ihekweazu One — Pandemics, Power & Institutions (The NCDC Years) | ONE2ONE (S4 E3)

Описание: What do pandemics reveal about power - and why do institutions matter most when everything is under strain?

In this ONE2ONE conversation with Tokunbo Shitta-Bey, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu - Executive Director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme and former Director-General of Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control — reflects on the foundations of Nigeria’s epidemic preparedness and the uncomfortable truths exposed by crisis.
Drawing on his experience of building Nigeria’s public-health response capacity during the NCDC years, and later founding the WHO’s Pandemic & Epidemic Intelligence Hub in Berlin, Dr Ihekweazu explores:
• the harsh realities of leadership in national epidemic preparedness
• why pandemics are as much failures of governance as of science
• how institutions are built — and why they resist reform
• the difference between surveillance and epidemic intelligence
• what COVID-19 revealed about authority, capacity, and power

This episode focuses on The NCDC Years — a defining period in Nigeria’s public-health history — and sets the foundation for a wider discussion on global power, independence, and health governance in Episode 4.

Chapters:
00:00 – One2One intro
00:17 – Holding the line in a vulnerable world
00:32 – Who is Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu?
05:36 – Stepping into NCDC: the uncomfortable truth
06:52 – Nigeria’s epidemic preparedness in 2016
08:11 – Building an institution from a low base
09:21 – Leadership without expectations
11:11 – Creating systems, vision and accountability
13:19 – Preparing quietly for a future pandemic
14:39 – Reforming systems designed to resist change
19:26 – When governance failed during COVID
22:57 – Why write An Imperfect Storm?
26:18 – Is Africa structurally disadvantaged?
28:16 – The 4-year political cycle problem


ℹ️ About ONE2ONE
ONE2ONE is a long-form institutional conversation series established to host serious public thinking about authority, governance, and social life.
Through reflective, in-depth dialogue with leaders, practitioners, and policymakers across African healthcare, governance, culture, and enterprise, the series examines how authority is exercised, how institutions are formed and strained, and how decisions shape the conditions under which societies function, fail, or endure.

ONE2ONE is intentionally non-advocacy and non-opinion-led. It treats conversation as an institutional act in itself — a disciplined public space in which reasoning is made visible, rather than compressed into commentary, performance, or prescription

📡 Broadcast weekly on Channels TV (DSTV) and Channels 24 UK (Sky 515)
🌐 Streamed globally on YouTube, Spotify, and all major podcast platforms

🔔 Subscribe to ONE2ONE for conversations shaping the future of leadership, governance, and enterprise across Africa.

📺 Watch on TV:
DSTV — Mondays at 8:30 PM (Repeat: Saturdays at 3:30 PM)
Channels 24 UK (Sky 515) — Sundays at 1:30 PM (Repeat: Wednesdays at 6:30 PM)

Edited for network broadcast accessibility — first aired on Channels TV

#ONE2ONE #ChikweIhekweazu #TheNCDCYears #Pandemics #PublicHealthLeadership #GlobalHealth #Institutions #HealthSecurity #WHO#AfricaAndPower