Dora Akunyili for burial August 28

The formal burial rites for the former Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili, will start on Monday, August 25 with a night of tributes in Abuja at the International Conference Centre.

According to the programme of events released to the press by her husband, Dr. Chike Akunyili, there will be a mass on Tuesday, August 26, at Our Lady Queen of Nigeria Cathedral, Garki.

The burial train will move on Wednesday, August 26, to Enugu where she spent a good part of her life for a burial mass at the Holy Ghost Cathedral.

Her remains will be interred at Agulu, her husband’s hometown in Anambra State on Thursday, August 28, after a burial mass at Madonna Catholic Church, Agulu.

A first class pharmacy graduate of the University of Nigeria, Akunyili died at the age of 59 in an Indian hospital two months ago after a protracted battle with cancer.

She was better known as the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, where between 2001 and 2010 she fought hard against drug counterfeiters and raised the consciousness of Nigerians to the need to watch out for fake and substandard drugs.

She was born to the family of late Chief Edemobi, a businessman of Nanka, Anambra State.

She married Dr. Chike Akunyili of Agulu, a neighbouring community. They were blessed with children and grandchildren.