Dr. Audu Musa Idowu (MBBS, MPH, DHSM, FAIPH) is an accomplished public health professional, physician executive, and entrepreneur from Koro in Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State. He is the Chairman and Founder of the Ashmed Group of Health Companies, which includes one of Nigeria’s largest networks of eight specialist hospitals and ASHMED INTEGRATED HEALTH SERVICE INSURANCE COMPANY, a nationally accredited Health Maintenance Organization (HMO).
Dr. Audu is renowned for his global health leadership, particularly in polio eradication, and his extensive, often understated, philanthropic work across Kwara State.
Dr. Audu established the Ashmed Group, which currently employs over 500 staff. His enterprises offer crucial healthcare and insurance services across six Nigerian states.
His commitment to the less privileged is evident in the strategic, personal, and substantial interventions he consistently undertakes, often without fanfare, reflecting his naturally humble disposition despite his success and wealth. His philanthropic activities are highlighted as follows;
* Financial & Educational Support: He personally provides school fees and bought JAMB forms for numerous students, actively working to remove financial barriers to education.
* Health and Welfare: He has paid the hospital bills of countless individuals, providing a lifeline to those who cannot afford medical care. In every festive season, Dr. Audu ensures the distribution of food items and fabrics across the entire Kwara South Senatorial District, offering tangible relief.
* Economic Empowerment (Recent): Most recently, he distributed POS machines and start-up capital to individuals across the Kwara South Senatorial District, promoting self-reliance and entrepreneurship.
* Organized Charity: Through the ‘GRAND CHARITY YOUTH DEVELOPMENT’ (GCYD) NGO (founded in 2020), he has sustained these efforts, supporting education (including paying ad-hoc staff salaries for schools and returning dropouts) and health services for the neediest across Kwara, Borno, and Kaduna states.
* Targeted Health Initiatives: His commitment dates back to 2006 when he initiated a special sight-saving program in collaboration with Sight Savers, benefiting thousands in Ekiti and Oke Ero LGAs of Kwara state.
Dr. Audu’s public health career is distinguished by critical service in complex environments. His role as WHO State Coordinator in Borno State (North East Nigeria) was pivotal, making him a major hero that led the response for the interruption of polio in Nigeria and subsequent certification in Africa.
He currently serves in Pakistan as Provincial Team Leader and National Technical Officer for the WHO Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI). He has also served the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office in Abuja as the Head of Surveillance and Point of Entry for the COVID-19 Response and held various roles with UNICEF in states like Abia, Kebbi, and Benue.
Dr. Audu is recognized as a talented and naturally endowed leader, and his deep commitment to community development has earned him numerous honours, including the Chieftaincy titles of Aare Isegun of Koro land (2012), Bobagunwa of Osi Kingdom, Mayegun of Isolo Opin and many other traditional titles.
He is a core loyalist to the Saraki Dynasty, serving as the founder and Chairman of the Coalition Of Saraki Advocates (COSA) and the Sola Saraki Educational Foundation.
The renowned philanthropist holds an MBBS, a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) from Ahmadu Bello University (2003), and trained in Health Systems Management at the Galilee Institute of Management, Israel (2012). He is a Fellow of the African Institute of Public Health (FAIPH) (2020).
He demonstrated precocious talent by coordinating the FAMILY LIFE EDUCATION PROGRAM (FLE) for the European Economic Community/FGN Middle Belt Programme (1994–1996) while only a 400-level medical student.
Dr. Audu Musa Idowu has also received many other accolades, including the Kwara Ekiti Indigenes Merit Service Award and the Kaduna State Merit Award for Best Youth Corps member.
Recently, there has been agitation from different corners that Dr Audu should join the political realms to contest as House of Reps representing Ekiti Oke-Ero Isin and Irepodun Federal Constituency with the latest called made by a formal LG Chairman, Yinka Dallas noting that he possessed the qualities of a good Leader and such qualities should not be left untapped.