Nigerian comedians are currently on holiday. Obviously this is not the time to organise events just to make people laugh. Our politicians have taken the centre stage and they are doing it so well that we have not missed Ali Baba, AY. Basket Mouth and the rest. Every political rally I have seen so far is not just a carnival but more like those shows by Nigeria’s array of comedians where we laugh and forget, albeit momentarily, our pains and woes as Nigerians.

 

Oh, the politicians can dance. The other day, I saw Governor Aregbesola, his deputy and other party big wigs digging it out in the real owambe style. Even our beloved Comrade Adams Oshiomole was not left out in the dancing orgy. .

 

The politicians seem to think that all we expect from them during this campaign period is just to entertain us and tell us the same thing they said years before. They have concentrated more on dance, abuses and dumb questions such as ‘who will you vote for?’ will you vote for them?’ after which they beg us to ensure that we collect our PVC and cast our vote. And this has been the trend with the two political parties we have seen so far. Pity the other parties seem to have given up, leaving the field for APC and PDP.

 

But I think I’ve heard all they will tell us in this campaign period. There’s absolutely nothing new. They say they will improve our economy, that our lives will change for the better. They promise there will be more employment and our children will enjoy better education. None of the two parties has bothered to tell us how they will go about all these. There’s no visible sign at all that they even understand or appreciate the issues at stake. For instance, how will they create the millions of jobs they promise to offer? By making us to dance more?

 

For me, I’ve been expecting that both parties will address the peculiar problems of our health sector but they seem not to think it should be a campaign issue. I remember it was big enough an issue for General Buhari’s coup in 1985 when he described our hospitals as mere consulting clinics. Of course, things have changed a bit in the sector since then but healthcare still remains a big challenge which any serious person seeking to rule us ought to talk about. Maybe we should remind them.

 

The average life expectancy in Nigeria, stands at 52 years, the 17th lowest in the world.

 

 

Apart from this low life expectancy and despite our much flaunted wealth, health indices for women and children have remained so abysmal and consistently poor over the years. Indeed, statistics from the National Strategic Health Development Plan Framework (2009- 2015) adopted by the National Council on Health in 2009 show that infant mortality rate in the country stands at 75 per 1000 live birth while child mortality ratio remains 88 per 1000 live births. Under-5 mortality stands at 157 per 1000 live births and maternal mortality ratio remains 500 per 100,000 live births, contributing a disproportionate 10% of the global burden of maternal and infant mortality. In fact, it is estimated that less than half of deliveries are attended to by skilled health personnel.

 

While Nigeria has one of the largest stocks of human resources for health in Africa, it is still inadequate to meet the country’s needs. According to the National Strategic health development Plan Framework an inventory of health care personnel in 2006 indicated 39,210 doctors (0.3 doctors /1,000population), 124,629 nurses (1.03 nurses/1000 population), 88,796 midwives (0.67 midwives/1000 population), 2,482 Dentists (0.02 dentists/1000 population), and 12,072 Pharmacists (0.05 pharmacists/ 1000 population) for the year 2004. In addition to these, Nigeria’s health sector has the most restive workforce anywhere in the world due to unnecessary wrangling and rivalry among the professionals. This has often resulted in long industrial strikes such that one can almost count the number of times on finger tips that our health workers are at work in a year.

 

Even with the slight improvement of our Primary Health Care (PHC, this bedrock of our healthcare delivery system still remains too weak to offer cost-effective services for the prevention and management of common health problems especially at the LGA and Ward levels. In fact, a 2001 survey of public PHC facilities revealed that most public health facilities across the country are poorly equipped. According to the survey, only onequarter of health facilities had more than 50% of the minimum equipment package and 40% had less than a quarter. Majority of the public health facilities especially PHC centres are in a state of disrepair. Although every state currently has at least one tertiary health facility, most are not functioning at optimal capacities in the provision of quality specialist care.

 

I think this should engage the attention of our politicians as they seek our votes.

 

They should tell us how they will manage our health care delivery system so we don’t have to travel to India to treat our headache and malaria. We need to know how they will end the bitter feud between our health workers and raise the status of our public health institutions now being turned to mere mortuaries with incessant doctors’ and health workers’ strikes to centres of excellence that will compare favourably with those in the countries we currently run to for treatment.

 

We’ve had enough of our politicians’ dancing and revelries. I think they should get serious and tell us their plans, if any, towards a better Nigeria. Otherwise, we should just forget about the election and select one or two of our comedians and dancers to occupy Aso Rock in the next four years. Simple.

 

by Sam Eferaro