Chief (Dr) Femi Majekodunmi, the Bada of Egbaland, is man of many parts: Member, Board of Governors, National Institute of Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos; chairman, Committee of Federal Medical Centres in Nigeria, chairman, Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), Badagry, Lagos. In this interview with KUNLE ODEREMI, the renowned medical doctor speaks on the 2023 presidential race, calls for restructuring, among other issues. Excerpts:
Nigerians are worried medical professionals trained with scarce public resources are leaving the country literarily in droves. To what extent are you bothered?
Yes, I’m bothered and all Nigerians should be bothered. We have come a long way before arriving at the situation we find ourselves right now. Gone are the days when doctors graduate and jobs are waiting for them; nowadays the readymade jobs are there for them abroad and many places abroad seem to need them more than Nigeria. There are so many issues behind why professionals no longer want to stay back in Nigeria. There is the issue of salary, coupled with the need for conducive environment for them to work. Also the standard of the Nigerian medical system is very low compared to what obtains in developed countries. Those developed countries have gone so far regarding technological advancement in medical practice. The pay is good; the environment they work is fantastic and vacancies are available to train, employ. Nigerians want to uplift their lives, attain their ambitions so they access better options.
We also had this problem when the military was in power. 24 years after the military left power, why are we still finding it difficult to address this issue?
It has to do with many other aspects of life. Part of the problem is that our development is not tallying with time. We can also talk of other contributory factors like leadership. Every government blames the past government. We still have a lot to do. The followership also has to change its attitude. Also, corruption has eaten deep into our fabric, so there must be concerted efforts by everyone.
How do we arrest medical tourism by the political leadership?
We need to put in more money into medical education. We need to develop hospitals by providing modern equipment. We need to make the profession conducive to the professionals, in terms of higher pay and conditions of work. The hospitals must be well equipped. The strong will by government must be there. Looking at the budget, you see that not enough money is put into medicine. The Nigerian situation will continue until we are able to restructure our minds and work towards making this country better. Like the saying, the people get the kind of leadership they deserve. The followership must show example for good leadership to emerge.
Campaigns have peaked ahead of the general election. Have the candidates being addressing critical issues that affect the lives of Nigerians?
Election and campaign are another kettle of fish. They all make promises; there is not much honesty during electioneering. Even the party or candidate that will not score five percent of the votes will tell you that he or she will win. In actual fact, there are only two political parties: APC and PDP; the rest know that they are not strong. One of APC or PDP will win, and APC looks stronger.
Don’t you think the country needs a shift having tried the two political parties?
We are used to the party system and no matter how popular you are, you must subscribe to our party system. For example, the chances of our dear Peter Obi are very slim. Our dear former president once tried that, he once told us that APC, PDP were not good and we needed something new. Many of us had that feeling at that time but people did not align. So, it’s either you’re on the left or on the right. Parties are not based on ideologies anymore like those good old days of Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Nnamdi Azikwe, when you know the conservatives, you know the liberal. Now, people shift easily. Today, one person is in APC, the following day, the person is in PDP. Again, there is no seriousness in our political system. It’s all about stomach infrastructure. Things are just not working the way they should when you consider our years of gaining independence. We have the resources but the issue is the way we manage these resources and we have not really done well. Everybody thinks it himself or herself. You cannot keep thinking of yourself and not the country. For example, Americans think of the United States first. They obey the law and they are very proud to be Africans. Until Nigerians start thinking of Nigeria first, we will remain at the level we are.
Is that why there are calls for restructuring of the country?
All those calls for restructuring by various interest groups, organisation and individuals with high stakes in the Nigerian project are because things are not going well. Things are not going well in all aspects of governance. Ten different individuals or bodies will have 10 different meanings of restructuring. But, what they have in common is that things cannot continue the way they are whether on security, employment. Our population is growing fast and development is not meeting up with the population.
Is the electorate sophisticated enough to make the right choices for Nigeria to start getting things right and be in the rank of the Asian tigers; can the 2023 election change the tide and status quo for good?
There are times you just believe in the person. Among those contesting to be president, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is the best among them, because of his experience. I have known him to be a dogged fighter, cerebral person. He has hardly failed in any position. You need somebody who has gone through a lot, someone who is likely to know the problems and the way to evolve solutions.
Are one of those who belong to that school of thought that our problem as a country is more about the importance we attach to personalities instead of building strong institutions that can grow and strengthen the system?
Let me answer the question this way: we have problems in every sector of the economy. So, we need someone larger than life itself; someone who has seen it all. Governance is about taking care of the social life of the people. One of the most important things is the pursuit of happiness. Developed countries show the good examples we are talking about. We are struggling to be like them. What we have here is mal-development. We have been developing since 1960 and there is little development.
Talking local politics, how would you assess the Dapo Abiodun governance in Ogun State? Does he deserve a second term?
The present governor in Ogun State has been marvelous, fantastic. He has put so much seriousness into governance, a type we have not seen in Ogun State. Very few people will expect this much from Dapo Abiodun. Today, he is one of the best governors in Nigeria. He has taken development to greater heights. He is starting virtually everything. There is no problem regarding his second term because he has visibly worked for it. He has done a lot in education, agriculture, road infrastructure, health and in terms of making people happy as much as possible. He will easily have second term, by the grace of God.
There are some indigenes of the state, who think that Governor Dapo Abiodun has marginalised some areas in the state in the scheme of things.
I don’t think so. No government can do it all. No governor that hasn’t got his own detractors. This is a governor that has evenly distributed development. There is hardly any ward in Ogun State today that has not felt the impact of Governor Dapo Abiodun administration.
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Then, which aspects will you describe as the low points of this administration?
What some may consider as a low point of the Dapo Abiodun administration is that they have no seen him at market places but I fault this because the governor has organised town hall meetings but it may just be that some people are not happy that the meetings have not got to them. But, even his detractors cannot deny his exemplary performance.
But the opposition parties seem to be coming stronger.
There are only two parties in the State, the APC and PDP and the PDP is in disarray. They are not formidable at all. I don’t see them as a problem to the APC. Leave propaganda apart. Even the party that will come last is saying it will produce the next governor. You cannot stop Nigerians from saying they will win when deep down, they know they won’t win.
How crucial is the 2023 election for the country?
It is the most crucial in the history of the country. This is because things are not going well in the country. You cannot put all the blame on the present leadership, things had been wrong all the way. But, we expect the next leadership to put things right. Buhari is doing his best, Goodluck Jonathan, Olusegun Obasanjo, Umar Musa Yar’Adua all did their best. Tinubu will be better in handling the country than any of them. Tinubu has seen it all, he is energetic enough; he is experienced enough; he is cerebral enough. None of the other candidates has the organisational capacity to fix things in the country. By January, it will be obvious that there is no other winner than Tinubu.
A lot of youths are registered for the 2023 elections and are believed to be rooting for Peter Obi.
Peter Obi is the sensation of the moment. He’s doing fine as an individual but an individual cannot just win an election. The party structure matters a lot. The Labour Party has no candidates for several positions in the North. The party does not exist in the actual sense of it. You can’t compare Peter Obi to Tinubu. The candidacy of Peter Obi has made Labour Party a bit popular, but how many seats can they win in the parliament or government House across the states?
