Following the recent cholera outbreak that has claimed many lives in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria, the former Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Mr Peter Obi, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to deploy more financial resources to the health sector to curb further disease outbreaks in the country.
He alleged that the cause of the outbreak was a lack of investment in the health sector by the present administration.
Obi made the call at the 6th Public Lecture of the Board of Fellows, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (BOF-PSN), held at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, on Wednesday.
According to him, Nigeria should not be talking about outbreaks now. We built a vaccination facility in this country in 1948, almost 20 years before Cyrus, which is now the biggest vaccine producer in the world, yet because of bad leadership, corruption, and people who are not committed to good leadership, the facility is not functioning.
“Nigerians today rather resort to prayers whenever they fall sick to secure a spiritual cure than go to a hospital.
He stated that the government, rather than partnering with local pharmaceutical industries for the manufacturing of high-quality drugs and medicines, has been issuing licences for the importation of drugs and collecting revenues from the importers.
Obi, who was the keynote speaker on the lecture topic “Access to Quality Medicine in an Unstable Environment,” stressed that catering for the health of the citizens is one major priority of any government, but lamented that due to leadership incompetence in the country, the issue of health in the country has not been given the attention it deserves.
He noted that he visited a primary health centre on the outskirts of Abuja in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and discovered that there were 50 pregnant women in the hospital, and there was only one medical staff attending to them.
He stated that there were about 24,000 primary health centres in the country, but lamented that none of them were functional.
He also lamented the allocation to health as contained in the current national budget, saying that there was a need to prioritise issues concerning health such that, in addition to providing health insurance to all citizens, there should be a deliberate policy by the government to ensure the local manufacture of drugs and medicines.
He cited that Augmenentin, which used to sell for N5,000, now sells for N18,000.
He also took a swipe at the governments at the state and federal levels who give priority to equipping health clinics at governors’ clinics, the Presidency, and the National Assembly, who are meant to take care of but abandon overseas hospitals while those for the citizens are neglected.
“We need to dismantle the type of leadership we have in the country, and everyone must show commitment to installing a government that will provide good governance; otherwise, we can’t move forward.
He also lamented that Nigeria is a signatory to the SDG, but since the COVID pandemic, the country has not been able to establish any laboratories to conduct tests for diseases.
Also speaking, Dr. Afam Obidike, Anambra State Commissioner for Health, said Gov. Chukwuma Soludo’s administration acquired 5000 hectares of land at Ogboji in Orumba South to build a Pharmaceutical Industrial City.
According to Obidike, the idea of the pharmaceutical industrial city is to change the known concept of importation and selling to manufacturing and exportation of drugs.
“It will be the biggest pharmaceutical distributors’ hub in West Africa,” he said.
Earlier in his address, Dr. Joel Adagadzu, Chairman, Board of Fellows, PSN, said the recommendations from the lecture would help the leadership of PSN to continue the dialogue with the government on finding equitable solutions to access to quality medicines for the teeming population.
The event was also graced by the Unizik Vice Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ikechebelu, Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe, CEO of PAXS Pharmaceuticals Limited, Uche Akpakama, and Unizik Pharmaceutical Students, among others.
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