UMAR BAYO ABDULWAHAB writes on the need for Nigeria to look inward and ensure effective planning 56 years after independence
Recently, at a press briefing organized to mark the 40th anniversary of Nigeria Television Authority, (NTA) Ilorin, the General Manager of the station, Adetunji Majeed, made a shocking revelations when he told audience mainly journalists that the NTA bought ‘‘footages from British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)’’ while shooting a documentary about Nigeria’s civil war “No Victor No Vanquished,” due to lack of documented materials.
The former Military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, announced ‘No Victor No Vanquished’ shortly after the civil war, which ended in1970.
Regrettably, few years after the war, NTA , a national television with largest network in Africa could not lay its hands on footages that will assist the authority to shoot a documentary about the nation’s civil war but only had to resort to BBC for such before we can document our own history .
Majeed, who was formerly of the programmes department in NTA Abuja before his appointment as GM NTA, Ilorin station , said the experience had prompted the station to put up a museum to preserve the nation’s treasures.
He regretted that culture of preserving treasures and heritages of the country was dying especially now that students no longer take History as a course in schools.
The broadcaster disclosed that the star project of NTA Ilorin for the 40th anniversary celebration was to establish a museum within the premises of the station.
The museum which is stocked with the station’s treasures since it started operation as a state television known as NTV, Ilorin in 1976, the GM said, will be for public use.
This, according to him, would serve as archive and information centre about history, treasures and projection about the broadcasting station as it moved towards digital migration.
The scenario painted by the NTA’s GM depicts rots and system failure in virtually all aspects of the national life .The ‘No Victor, No Vanquished’ documentary was meant to be a healing pill for the Nigerian nation after the civil war that broke out on January 1 I967 ,seven years after her independence.
But it’s sad that for almost everything today, Nigeria has to seek for foreign assistance to the extent that the nation imports toothpicks.
For instance, due to lack of qualitative healthcare in the country, the health sector, over the years, has contributed immensely to capital flights for medical tourism abroad to the detriment of Nigeria’s economy.
With Nigeria’s economy now in recession as the nation celebrates her 56th years of independence, analysts have called for sober reflection on the state of the nation particularly, as it affects the health sector and the economy. A Professor of health economics with the University of Ilorin, Bello Abdulgafar Raji, decried the relapse of poliomyelitis in some parts of the country, describing it as a result of system failure.
Raji said, the recent relapse of polio recorded in some parts of the country was a reflection of the institutional failure in virtually all sectors of the nation. According to him, the same factors responsible for the relapse of poliomyelitis in the north “can be linked to the larger problem affecting the whole society.”
Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, had on August 11, 2016, confirmed an outbreak of fresh Wild Polio Virus (WPV) in Borno state, coming after the country had celebrated two years without a case of polio.
According to the minister, the outbreak affected two children from Gwoza and Jere local government areas of the state.
But delivering a lecture titled; “One Problem Too Many” at the official investiture of Rotarian Babatunde Julius as the 13 president of Rotary Club of Ilorin (District 9125, Nigeria) held in Ilorin, Raji said “there is complete failures in all institutions in Nigeria.”
According to him, some of the factors attributed to be the causes of polio in Nigeria, including cultural, religious, political reasons and lack of access to vaccinate children due to Boko Haram activities “are all ruse.”
He said: “What I see as the cause of polio in Nigeria today is because Nigeria cannot boast of what I called health road map.
“The major cause of Poliomyelitis is because people don’t have access to potable water, how much will it cost, the road to access health care all are also bad?.
“Nigeria is a planless economy, Nigeria is a country that fails to plan that is why we fail in all other sectors .Some people cannot even say the number of children they have, data makes no meaning to us.”
Similarly, the Chief Medical Director, General Hospital, Ilorin. Dr. Abdulfatai Olokoba said Nigeria’s ‘‘health care delivery is still at infancy’’.
Appraising the state of the Nigerian nation at 56, the medical expert said, “as a nation, we are growing but there are challenges. Our strength is in our diversity .The challenges of cyber-crimes, challenges of recession, we also have security challenges; We have the Boko Haram, IPOB, Niger Delta, social challenges but we are growing.
“Talking about our health care, recession has only given colouration to health care issue in Nigeria. In terms of personnel, we are growing in all aspects of medical profession, doctors, nurses, but despite our growth in personnel, we have not been able to meet the WHO minimum.
“There is also a growth in hospital, but the growth in hospital has not marched the growing population of the country.
“Our health care financing system is through pay out of pocket .Anywhere in world, it’s difficult to finance health care through pay out of pocket.
Countries like Norway, Japan, Sweden, United States, UK where they provide quality health care services it’s done through National Health Insurance Scheme.”
He however regretted that Nigeria’s national health coverage is far below standard compared to the population of the country even with the National Health Insurance Scheme launched 10 years ago.
“Our national health insurance enrolees is less than 10 % of the population and it is only concentrated in the formal sector .The informal sector where you have the artisans, others have not been captured,” the CMD said.
Olokoba urged the federal government to create more awareness and ensure that the informal sector is captured to increase the nation’s health coverage.
He added that equipment in most hospitals in Nigeria are obsoletes. ‘‘Our machines are obsolete; the cost of maintaining and servicing them has become a problem. Health care delivery in Nigeria is still at rudimentary, is still at infancy’’.
The bottom-line here is that Nigeria should endeavour to look less for external assistance by putting in place the right structures that would guarantee institutional development. When this is done, observers believe, then the nation will truly be said to be on the right path of development.
