Lessons for Nigerian leaders as world marks ‘Mandela Day’

It will be too bad for the human race, to forget in a hurry the glorious exit of Nelson Mandela, the first black South African president, a man the world fixed July 18 to celebrate his legacy annually. Madiba, as he was fondly called by his peo¬ple, died at home and made death desirable. Madiba, who was admitted to a South Afri¬can hospital, and subsequently died in his private residence, redefined death by mak¬ing many to see for the first time that death is not something to dread about but rather, a blessing for leaders who had during their life time sacrificially worked for the wellbeing of their people. At his death, numerous other world leaders desired to do good in order to taste Mandela’s kind of death!
Nelson Mandela’s memorial service was a gathering of the best and the worst, the intelligent and the dull on the African soil. Service of songs was held in faraway lands, including Nigeria. Friends and foes were there attended the funeral. Age long disputes amongst leaders were settled and the death offered opportunity for people to mend fences. Hope rekindled as world lead¬ers exchanged pleasantries. The whites were there. The Blacks were there. Christians were there. Muslims were there. Pagans, Buddhists and all kinds of religions were well represented. Western leaders, Asian leaders, Eastern leaders, African and lead¬ers of other continents were there. Former US Presidents: Bill Clinton and George Bush were there in South Africa. The incumbent US President Barrack Obama was there and he described Nelson Mandela as ‘a giant of history’. UN Scribes Ban Ki-Moon was there. “He taught by example. He sac¬rificed so much and was willing to give up everything here for freedom and equality, for democracy, and justice. His compassion stands out most. He was angry at injustice. He hated hatred. Nelson Mandela was more than one of the greatest leaders of our time. He was one of our greatest teachers”, said Ban ki-Moon of Madiba. Former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, was there too.
Goodluck Jonathan, who also held a memorial service at home and declared 3-day mourning in honour of the late South African icon, was there too in South Africa. While Mandela received medical atten¬tion in his country up till the time he died, Nigerian leaders never patronize the health institutions in the country.
A point of illustration is the drama that played out when Musa Yar’Adua, a former Nigerian President, was sick and had to be flown outside the country to a Jeddah Hospital in Saudi Arabia. His condition was held in top secret until he eventually gave up the ghost.
Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the late Ikemba of Nnewi, also died in a foreign land while attempting to save his life. His remains were brought back to Nigeria. Chinua Achibe, though, spent the later part of his days in the United States, he, however, was another notable Nigerian leader who died in a foreign hospital and his corpse flown to Nigeria. Solomon Lar, a former Plateau State governor and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) founding chairman, was not an exemption. He died in a New York hospital and his remains brought back to home. Before then, former Nigeria’s Second-in-Command, Vice Admiral Mike Akhigbe had also died in a New York hospital. His remains were flown back home as presidential cargo
These Nigerian leaders and many more, could not obtain medical ‘salvation’ in for¬eign hospitals. They all died believing best medical facilities in the Western world could save them.
Unlike Nigerian leaders who do not be¬lieve in the project Nigeria, Nelson Mandela believes in South African medical system because he had invested in it. He stayed with the system he built and died there. No committee was set up by South African government on how his remain would be flown back from a foreign hospital to South Africans.
The crave for medical treatment abroad, experts react
Some medical professionals told our re¬porter that the trend, if not checked, could further worsen the already bad situation. Some were of the opinion that the delegates who represented the medical sector at the just concluded National Conference did not do well for not raising the issue of incessant medical trips abroad by political leaders.
A reliable source in the Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja, who wished to remain anonymous because she was not permitted by law to speak to the press and due to the sensitivity of the issue, told BusinessDay on the telephone that government officials go for medical treatment abroad because they do not believe in the system at home. She blamed the woes in the health sector on government insincerity.
“When government would buy machine, they will go and get obsolete thing. They would not allow the experts to do the right thing. They would rather give contractors to go and buy nonsense. Then, back home, there is no electricity. Somebody, maybe in the theatre and there is power failure, they have to start looking for diesel. Mean¬while, the system over there, electricity is not interrupted, they use state-of-the-art machines. There is a lot of technology that is available there and not available in this country because government is not inter¬ested in investing in the sector. When they are sick, they can hop into the plane and fly abroad. They can afford it at the expense of the larger populace who should benefit from this democracy”, she said.
She said the political leaders are aware of the right things like following Mandela’s example, but will not, because they (leaders) know what they have done to the system will hurt them should they take the risk of subjecting their medical needs to the Nige¬rian health system.
When asked if it was possible for Ni¬gerians to agitate for a legal framework to
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restrain public office holders from going for medical treatment abroad as a means of compelling them to invest substantially in the health sector, she said the law restrain¬ing leaders from seeking medical treatment abroad was already in existence.
“I think it should be Obasanjo or Yar’ Adua who put that embargo”, she said. Ac¬cording to her, from human rights perspec¬tive, it would be difficult for Nigerians to tell their leaders not to go anywhere because every human being has a right to seek help wherever they think they can get help.
“The policy that is on is that they will not use government money. Before then, they used to use government money to treat every political office holder even senior civil serv¬ants like Permanent Secretaries. Government will formerly ask for medical report and will fund the medical trip. But that has stopped. If they are going to use their money you cannot tell them not to go anywhere. What the law says is that, you cannot use tax payers’ money for medical treatment abroad. Even as it is right now with the current system where we have the National Health Insurance, everybody is supposed to buy into that. It’s only when you are in critical stage you can ask the state to support you. The state can only support you at home not abroad and every public office holder is supposed to have a health insurance scheme. There is already a frame work that does not allow public of¬fice holders to use government money for medical treatment abroad. The question to ask then is: are they obeying it because they have a way of passing things under the table”, the source said.
But a Senior Medical Consultant with Lagos General Hospital, Ikeja who craved anonymity, disagreed with the Federal Min¬istry of Health’s official. He said doctors in the country need to come together and push for a bill banning political office holders from seeking medical service abroad in the overall interest of the country. He said a situation where a sitting president would be attending minor medical checkups in hospitals outside the country was no longer healthy for the country’s already declining image.
“Are we saying that Nigeria do not have the money to build world class hospital and employ the best doctors to manage the facil¬ity? Is it not a shame for a country ranked as seventh largest oil producing country in the world not to have medical facility where health issues of its leaders and elite in the country could be handled? The only way out is legislation. Anyone, whether he or she is already rich or not, who desire do govern us, should be compelled by law to get his medical attention where all of us get
ours. This is the only solution that would get politicians to invest heavily on the health sector and stop the corruption of medical trips abroad. It gives them opportunity to loot the country’s treasury. Until unusual steps are taken, there would continue to be crisis in the health sector. Until we stop them by law, doctors will continue to go on strikes,” he told BusinessDay.
The 60-year old Consultant who lament¬ed that medical trip abroad was becoming a status symbol among politicians, wondered why political leaders have continued to fail to realise that Nigeria could become a place people from over the world could fly to for medical remedy if her leaders would rise above mediocrity and follow the example of former South African President Nelson Mandela.
“Leaders make things happened in those countries our leaders go to. They like where things are honestly organized; why can’t our leaders replicate what they have seen abroad here? When they are looking for opportunity to waste resources, they will pretend to be going for medical trips. You should hear them boast of this so-called medical trip abroad! You will almost want to fall sick so that you can be taken there too! They have made it a thing of pride for a public office holder to be flown abroad for medical care. If you are a Senator or member of Reps and you have not been to a foreign hospital something must be wrong with you. It’s a matter of status now. It’s a way of build¬ing personal Curriculum. Unfortunately Nigerians are watching them”, he lamented.
Kasali Oluwatoyin, deputy medical direc¬tor, Duro Soleye Hospital, told our reporter in his office that, Nigerian leaders travel abroad because they believe they were insecure with the medical practice at home. He said insecurity in the sense of the gadgets, the equipments that are not available in Nigeria for proper diagnosis and for treatment were mainly responsible for the trend.
“They also believe most of the equipment brought into the country are substandard, for getting the fact that, they are the govern¬ment officials responsible for the agencies mandated to ensure standard medical equip¬ments and drugs are brought to the country. They also believe strongly in the white men. Our leaders crave for medical trips because of that perception. But I can tell you that the blacks are doing very well in the medical profession world over. Abroad, the people you meet who do the best are blacks. If you have about ten blacks, four of them would be Nigerians. Back home, the doctors in Nigeria are still doing very well despite the huge gap in medical infrastructure”, he said.