Foreign medical treatment and self-colonising mentality of Nigerian leaders

A family friend of ours was admitted to a hospital in the United Kingdom last year. She had driven her children to school, and on getting there, she couldn’t get out of the car. Other parents who saw her in excruciating pain quickly notified the school authority, and the paramedics were called. She was admitted at the Royal Infirmary Hospital in Leicester.

When I visited her at the hospital, alongside my wife, she informed us that the doctors told her it was sciatica. Since it was not a life-threatening condition, I just assumed she would be out in a few days. I was wrong, as she spent weeks in the hospital. She was later transferred to another hospital, where she spent a couple of days before she was discharged. During another visit, she informed me that they wanted to move her to another ward, but they couldn’t, as there were no bed spaces. I was surprised, and I remembered telling her while in Nigeria, if someone had told me this was happening in the UK, I wouldn’t believe it, but here I am witnessing it with my very eyes. I then wondered why our leaders are always rushing abroad over minor health issues as if they are guaranteed to live forever. At least. If they want private care, there are many private hospitals in Nigeria today with world-class facilities that can handle any medical issues like their foreign counterparts. Why then is the craze for always going abroad for treatment?

The immediate past president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, died last Sunday at the London Clinic located at 22 Devonshire Place, Marylebone, London, at the age of 82. While I offer my condolences to his family, especially the former First Lady Aisha Buhari and his children, I am happy because he died at an old age, as 70-80 years is generally the length of life for mankind, given the scriptural passage in Psalms 90:10.

What I find nauseating, however, is the statement made by another former Nigerian leader, Abdulsalami Abubakar. The former head of state, who handed over the reins of power to a democratically elected president in 1999, disclosed that he and the late Buhari were admitted to the same hospital in London shortly before he (Buhari) passed away. Speaking in an interview, Abdulsalami said he had only just been discharged when the news of Buhari’s death reached him.

Abdulsalami said: “We were actually in the same hospital. I had been discharged, and not long after, I heard the sad news. I went over to condole with the family and help with arrangements to prepare his body for the journey back home.”

Imagine the scenario. Buhari spent days in a highbrow London hospital receiving treatment. Nobody knows how much the payment costs in pounds, although a newspaper claimed it is £3,000 per night. Unfortunately, he died and a federal government delegation led by the Vice President was mandated by President Bola Tinubu to go and repatriate his remains for burial. All that would have been unnecessary and millions of naira saved if he had chosen to be treated in Nigeria.

In the song, Colomentality, the late Afrobeat maestro, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti sang, ‘He be saying you are a colonial man. You don be slave man before. They don’t release you now. But you never release yourself. How apt! The actions of these shameless leaders who keep frittering our monies away all in the name of receiving medical treatment abroad are a huge slap in the face of the likes of the late Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello, Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa, Anthony Enahoro, and other nationalists who fought for Nigeria’s independence from the British colonial government. You asked the British government to go away, claiming that you have the full capacity to govern your country. Yet, 64 years later, you are still running like poor slaves to the same country to seek medical solutions to ailments that can be conveniently cured in your country. Yes, the British government has released us from slavery, but we have refused to release ourselves, no thanks to a selfish, short-sighted, corrupt, and inept leadership that has plagued Nigeria for years.

Buhari was to the United Kingdom as the current president, Bola Tinubu, is to France. In 2006, 2Face Idibia released his album Grass2Grace. In one of the tracks titled ‘4 Instance,’ he sang, “For instance, say emí ní Baálẹ̀ of Nigerians. Shey, I go dey respect your own stance. Shey I go create the scenery for better to plenty. Today they make usgive a chance. Instead of packing the money, they go to France. They make suffering full in abundance.”

When I listened to the song recently, I wondered if 2Baba foresaw what President Bola Tinubu is doing today with his almost monthly visits to France. By frequenting France in the name of medical tourism, President Tinubu is technically packing our monies there, as his treatments are being funded with taxpayers’ money, which could have been used to develop our country, especially the moribund health sector.

Recall that in 2017, Aisha, the wife of the late Buhari, publicly upbraided the chief medical director of the State House Medical Centre, Dr. Husain Munir, for the poor state of the health facility established to take care of the president, vice-president, and their families, as well as members of staff of the Presidential Villa, Abuja. According to a newspaper report, “Mrs. Buhari admitted that Nigeria was unstable in the last six months owing largely to the President’s ill health that forced him to remain outside the country for months. She wondered what could have happened to a common man on the street if Buhari could spend several months outside Nigeria for health reasons. She recalled that she was sick recently and was advised to travel abroad because of the poor state of the clinic. The president’s wife explained that she had to go to a private hospital owned by foreigners when she was told that the X-ray machine in the State House Medical Centre was not working. Mrs. Buhari told Munir, who was present at the event, that the budget allocated to the clinic must be accounted for.”

The president’s wife added: “I am happy the MD of Aso Rock Clinic is here. Dr. Munir, I am happy you are here. As you are all aware, for the last six months, Nigeria wasn’t stable because of my husband’s ill health. We thank God he has fully recovered now. If somebody like Mr. President can spend several months outside Nigeria, then you wonder what will happen to a man in the street. A few weeks ago, I was sick as well. They advised me to take the first flight out to London; I refused to go. I said I must be treated in Nigeria because there is a budget for an assigned clinic to take care of us. If the budget is N100m, we need to know how the budget is spent. Along the line, I insisted they call Aso Clinic to find out if the X-ray machine is working. They said it was not working. They didn’t know I was the one that was supposed to be in that hospital at that very time. I had to go to a hospital that was established by foreigners 100 percent. What does that mean? There is a budget for the hospital, and if you go there now, you will see a number of constructions going on, but they don’t have a single syringe there. What is the purpose of the buildings if there is no equipment there to work with?”

Aisha Buhari was advised to go abroad for medical treatment, but she said no! I must be treated here in my country like the common man. That is what leadership is all about. Yearly in Nigeria, billions are budgeted yearly to build and equip hospitals; the monies are looted, yet nobody is held accountable, as those in charge of the hospitals are aware that the president and other political office holders, including their families, don’t use the hospitals but hop on private jets and the next available flight to the UK, France, and other foreign hospitals. Who monitors how these monies are being utilised? None!

In February, the coordinating minister of health and social welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, said that patients from the UK, the US, and other countries of the world are now coming to Nigeria to receive medical treatments. While the minister’s claim is true, it must be noted that these people coming from abroad are making use of private hospitals in Nigeria with world-class facilities, which are beyond the reach of the common man. If foreigners are coming here to receive medical treatments, why can’t the president also lead by example by opting to be treated here instead of ‘packing our money to France,’ like 2face sang?

When President Tinubu announced the removal of the fuel subsidy in May 2023, some analysts hailed the decision as a bold step toward fiscal discipline. They argued that though it was hasty, the removal would free up significant revenue that could be redirected toward infrastructure, education, health, and other pressing national priorities. I had expected that President Tinubu would utilise the monies realised from the subsidy removal to initiate projects that would benefit the common man.

Imagine using that money to renovate and equip Federal Medical Centres (FMCs) and hospitals like the University College Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan, Oyo State, to world-class standards, and handing it over to the private sector to manage and subsidise healthcare for the poor masses. Rather, the president shared the money with state governors in what many have alleged as a ploy to buy their loyalty. No wonder even the governors in the opposition are defecting to his party. A state governor in the south-west even announced the renovation of the state’s government house for a whopping N63.4 billion while the major hospital in his state is in a parlous condition.

May the soul of former President Buhari rest in peace. Whether you seek treatment abroad or locally, on the moon or in the subterranean world, you will die when your time is up. Why not just improve the medical facilities here so that you and every member of society can benefit? And for Oga Femi Adesina, who said Nigeria lacks the expertise needed to handle Buhari’s health and that he would have died a long time ago if he had relied on Nigerian hospitals to manage his health, I am sure he is reading the reactions of Nigerians online.

Akinsuyi, former group politics editor of the Daily Independent, writes from Abuja. He can be reached at [email protected]