Navigating complex stakeholder dynamics and rigorous accountability requirements is central to the role of Nandila Mubiana FCCA, who oversees the effective use of nearly US$1bn in health funding for malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS programmes supported by the Geneva-based multilateral agency, the Global Fund.
As country team leader in Nigeria for GFA Consulting Group, Mubiana – who was elected to ACCA’s Global Council in November 2025 – provides fiduciary oversight, strengthens financial governance, sustains donor confidence, and ensures that critical health investments deliver measurable results – results that have life-changing impact.
‘Let’s be honest, no one truly welcomes a reviewer’
She leads a 30-strong team responsible for reviewing and clearing procurements and payments, timely and accurate reporting, development of policy manuals, and systems strengthening, ensuring that Global Fund resources are safeguarded and implemented efficiently within the grant allocation period.
Working in Nigeria, where health programmes are classified as high impact and the operating environment is high risk, Mubiana’s role demands rigorous financial controls and careful oversight, underscoring both the complexity and significance of the work.
Direct connection
Despite the scale of the task, she is enthusiastic about her role, the purposes she serves and the direct connection to people benefiting from the Global Fund’s healthcare projects in Nigeria.
‘I feel good about what I do, it’s awesome,’ she declares. ‘Through my role I’m supporting people who are suffering with tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS, ensuring they receive treatment, drugs and other healthcare commodities from the Global Fund.’
Mubiana began running GFA’s Nigeria operation three years ago, but has been with the organisation since 2017 when she arrived from Zambia to take up the group leader role in Abuja, the country’s administrative capital. Back home in Lusaka, she previously held a number of accounting roles with government ministries including health, home affairs, and works and supply.
Her work now is much like auditing, she says. The Global Fund’s grant to Nigeria is US$993m for 2024–26, principally aimed at eradicating HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by 2030, but in practice also expended on health infrastructure and pandemic preparedness. Since 2002 the fund has spent almost US$4.8bn in the country.
‘As a team, we need to be able to defend what we’re signing’
Ensuring the money is spent as intended is a major undertaking. GFA staff are split between a central office and the field, where they are embedded in Nigerian government health teams to ensure government projects and spending of grant money align with the Global Fund’s agreed aims and guidelines.
Staying strong
There is much to keep Mubiana awake at night, not least the reaction of some ‘implementers’ who believe their payment requests should pass through GFA review without query.
‘Let’s be honest,’ she says, ‘no one truly welcomes a reviewer. There’s always resistance.’ But sometimes it can go further. ‘There is a risk that there’s pushback. They don’t want you in their space.’
On the occasions when it doesn’t go well and GFA has to block payments, the reaction can be extreme. Vendors or suppliers, armed with placards, have been known to enter the office, and staff have been followed home. In this worst-case scenario, the Global Fund is notified and speaks directly to the government.
There’s also a danger of reputational damage should money be misappropriated. This concern is especially heightened because GFA’s work is focused on process and procedure rather than checking whether the goods or services are delivered.
CV
2023
Country team leader – Nigeria fiscal agency, GFA Consulting Group, Nigeria
2017
Group leader, GFA Consulting Group, Nigeria
2013
Project accounting manager, Ministry of Health, Zambia
2012
Senior internal auditor, Ministry of Home Affairs, Zambia
2011
Internal auditor, Ministry of Works and Supply, Zambia
2007
Project accountant, Ministry of Health, Zambia
Mubiana says she follows a mantra: that the Global Fund’s guidelines are ‘the beginning of wisdom’ and should be heeded and followed. That, she says, is enough in most cases to ensure that the money is properly spent.
Team effort
The key to reducing pushback is building solid relationships with government officers, she says. It is a point she hammers home, priming team members to build good contacts and reminding stakeholders that GFA is there to support the government rather than monitor every activity.
‘This is what we are here for,’ she notes, adding that the message to Nigerian officials is ‘Your win is my win. We are tied together at the hip. Your success is my success.’
In such an environment, Mubiana elevates soft skills above technical financial knowledge. ‘It is about knowing when to talk to people and what to talk to them about, and convincing them of the importance of your role and why they should support you,’ she says. ‘That has really worked for me and my team.’
‘Being a leader is about serving the people under you’
But those soft skills must go hand in hand with meticulous checking before the team can sign off on payments. ‘I constantly remind the team: you need to be able to defend what you’re signing.’
Mubiana is philosophical about the risks. ‘If I start to introspect, I say, no, I was made for such a time as this,’ she reflects. ‘Threats will come, whether it’s me or another person; they’ll come and they will go.’
But it also leads her to reflect on the nature of leading a team that may find themselves working in an environment that can be uncomfortable or even hostile. Mubiana makes herself available to step in and help with difficult relationships; there is, she says, a standing offer for GFA staff to delegate upwards.
‘Being a leader is not about being above everybody else,’ she says. ‘It’s about being able to serve the people who are under you.’
Ultimately, this is how Mubiana defines herself – as a leader first, and a woman second. ’I don’t think to myself, I’m a woman. No, I’m a leader.’
