In overseas institutions, we find hope 

By Levi Obijiofor 

Friday, 16 March 2007 

THERE is something hugely hypocritical in our political and military leaders who rush overseas for medical treatment whenever they trip over a small piece of rock or whenever they experience a slight change in their heart murmur. To be sure, regular medical check-up is highly recommended for anyone who wishes to maintain good health and for anyone who wishes to monitor the state of their health. What is questionable is the practice whereby politicians who aspire to lead us abandon public hospitals and opt for prestigious overseas medical institutions.  

Last week, Umar Musa Yar'Adua, the presidential candidate of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) caused a stir on the political platform when he was literally carried off his campaign stage and rushed to Germany for treatment for an ongoing but undecipherable medical condition. Just as the private aircraft that took Yar'Adua to Germany was touching down in Nigeria, troubled presidential candidate of the Action Congress Party (AC) Atiku Abubakar was being wheeled into a presidential aircraft for an urgent medical trip overseas to enable doctors to treat his damaged leg, following a mishap during his daily round of physical exercise (as the nation was informed).  

These latest high profile overseas medical trips have raised fundamental and moral questions not only about the health of these presidential candidates but also about their commitment to national development, including patronage of public hospitals in Nigeria. It is important to point out that Yar'Adua and Atiku are not the first set of political leaders in the country to embark on overseas medical sojourn although the point must be made that politicians who aspire to lead and develop the country must also show a sense of goodwill in, and a high level of appreciation for, our national institutions, such as public hospitals. Former and current state governors must also be included in the band of personalities who go overseas for medical reasons and for other miscellaneous objectives such as shopping, banking and holidays.  

Before he was detained and charged by the London Metropolitan Police for money laundering, former Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, had travelled to Germany to repair a bulging tummy -- some people prefer to use the term "overflowing tummy" as a metaphor to illustrate Alamieyeseigha's level of gluttony. Alamieyeseigha is in a physical, psychological and mental mess today because he committed the cardinal sin of visiting London on his way from a medical treatment in Germany. If he had returned to Yenagoa directly from the German medical centre where he received treatment, perhaps he would not have been nailed by London's Metropolitan Police. However, before Alamieyeseigha's troubles started, former Plateau State Governor, Joshua Dariye, had also travelled overseas for medical treatment and for other assorted reasons.  

During the period he ruled as an absolute military monarch, Ibrahim Babangida also travelled to Germany to treat a stubborn knee problem which German doctors diagnosed as a form of a medical condition known as radiculopathy. The first time the public heard of Babangida's ailment, everyone felt it must be a kind of terrible communicable disease. But, in real terms, it was not as debilitating as the name sounded.  

By embarking on their regular overseas medical expedition, Nigeria's political leaders and former military heads of state are suggesting that they prefer to die in overseas medical hospitals rather than be treated (successfully or unsuccessfully) in local public hospitals. By trooping overseas for medical treatment, our political leaders have acknowledged in no uncertain terms the perilous nature of our public and private hospital system, in particular the imperilled state of medicare in Nigeria. Regular overseas medical trips also suggest that the political leaders have no faith in our medical professionals.  

With this kind of attitude, should anyone expect these political candidates who are campaigning for our votes to do anything about the hospital situation in the country? It is logical to expect that anyone who could afford to travel overseas for medical check-up would not bother trying to fix a behemoth of a problem that is our public health care system. In essence, why would Atiku or Yar'Adua bother to tread where Obasanjo and his predecessors dreaded to walk on? It is clear that Atiku and Yar'Adua are saying to a befuddled nation that if anyone could afford the cost of overseas medical treatment, they should go for it. It is this kind of duplicitous behaviour that ought to be recognised and punished by voters on election day. Politicians must not take the people for a ride all the time.  

It is at this point that one must commend our departed supreme dictator Sani Abacha for bucking the trend set by his predecessors and in particular for refusing in his final hours to be flown overseas for medical resuscitation. Although his medical condition was probably beyond retrieval and an overseas trip may not have saved his life, his bold decision must be commended, regardless of the destructive nature of the rumours that swirled about the true cause of his death.  

It is not only our political leaders who have developed the habit of seeking help from overseas institutions whenever they experience problems of any kind. For example, soon after Lagos politician Funsho Williams was killed in his home last year, the police hierarchy sought urgent assistance from their Scotland Yard colleagues. No one, not even Sunday Ehindero, the Police Inspector-General who talks more than his Force could achieve on the ground, saw anything odd in the decision to welcome the team of British police experts. It is weird indeed because common sense dictates that a high profile local crime should be investigated by a crack team of seasoned investigators from the home front.  

The Nigeria Police certainly has in its ranks men and women whose investigative skills could match those of their counterparts in foreign countries. The reason why we fail to recognise their skills and use them to investigate major crimes in the country may have a lot do with crippling bureaucracy and diabolical ethnic politics in the police force. This failure has resulted in a long list of unsolved murders in the country and the incidence of assassination and kidnapping is likely to rise as we approach the long-awaited federal elections in about four weeks.  

While we recognise the growing practice, by politicians and the police, to romance with foreign institutions, we must also acknowledge that many parents in the country, in particular affluent parents, have been forced by poor standards at home to shop overseas for the best educational institutions for the education of their children. Owing to declining standards in higher education, accentuated by regular disruptions to academic programs and poor educational facilities, some parents believe it is more valuable to spend foreign currencies to send their children to overseas universities to enable them to achieve their learning objectives. This is probably an accurate reflection of the deplorable nature of higher education in Nigeria. In Nigeria, university education is poorly funded. Polytechnics are in a worse situation. They have been abandoned to their fate.  

In Nigeria's higher education institutions, the environment for advancement of teaching and research is non-existent. Indeed, there is no genuine culture of teaching and research. University and polytechnic academics are not encouraged to engage in research and publications. This affects adversely their track record, including their ability to compete with their peers in overseas universities and polytechnics. It is a terrible situation which the federal government has ignored for many years. Federal officials continue to wring their hands, looking for university and polytechnic administrators to identify and to blame.  

Things can only get worse and there is no guarantee that they will get better. We continue to hope that one day, perhaps one day, public hospitals in Nigeria would rise from their graveyard, the police would improve their poor record of crime prevention and unsolved mysteries of violent crimes in the country, and that universities and polytechnics in Nigeria would one day boast of quality facilities and academic staff. For the moment, hope remains our daily bread.