The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)’s frequent medical trips abroad silently raise a lot of legal, policy and social questions. These questions have remained unresolved over the years of the current regime. A lot of Nigerians who would have directly raised these questions on the propriety of such medical tours have been blackmailed to grumble without raising the relevant questions. This discourse attempts to contextualise the President’s medical tours within the policy and developmental milieus of Nigeria.
Section 1 of the National Health Act establishes a National Health System under the leadership of the Minister of Health who is an appointee of the president. The Minister of Health is not one of the constitutional appointees that the President is under obligation to appoint, as he can decide to retain the portfolio just as he retained the petroleum resources portfolio in his office. The National Health System is inter alia charged with providing for persons living in Nigeria the best possible health services within the limits of available resources and to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of Nigerians to access to health care services. In essence, it is the duty of the President to ensure that the health of Nigerians receive adequate attention.
Under the watch of the President, confidence in the National Health System has been low. Many Nigerians including the rich, middle-and low-income groups spend huge resources to travel abroad for medical treatment. Nigeria is reputed for spending over $1bn every year on medical tourism. This places an undue burden on our foreign exchange reserves and on the value of the naira. The reasons for the massive medical tourism include ill-equipped hospitals and facilities and absence of requisite skills and competencies for the treatment of some health conditions. Public servants including the President also seek to travel abroad to treat their health conditions at the public expense.
However, every year, governors, and the Federal Ministry of Health lie to Nigerians on having built and equipped world-class medical facilities. None of the claimants and peddlers of such lies would ever vote to use those facilities unless they are carried in there unconscious. The votes for ministries of health across the federation, although they may not be adequate, have not delivered value for money, especially at the level of the State House Clinic at the Presidency which despite billions in votes does not have basic facilities and cannot provide basic services. This development led the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, to complain about the quality of the facility. Pray, how long does it take to build a new medical institution which has the facilities and personnel to take care of our President or equip existing ones?
The same National Health Act in Section 46 lays down the criteria for public sponsorship of medical treatment outside Nigeria. It states that without prejudice to the right of any Nigerian to seek medical check-up, investigation or treatment anywhere within and outside Nigeria, no public officer of the Government of the Federation or any part thereof shall be sponsored for medical check-up, investigation or treatment abroad at public expense except in exceptional circumstances on the recommendation and referral by the medical board and which recommendation and referral shall be duly approved by the Minister or Commissioner as the case may be.The President is a public officer who is supposed to go through this procedure before travelling for medical trips abroad. But it is on record that Nigerians have not been briefed about the existence of a medical board and whether the President went through this procedure before the various medical trips.
The scenario is that the President is a public officer who travels for medical tourism at the taxpayers’ expense. He does not travel with his private resources. But Nigerians have not been briefed of what ailment has been troubling the President. Buhari and his minders operate on the mindset that his health is a private and confidential matter that should not be in the public domain. They are very wrong because in any civilised polity, once a person places their name on the ballot as an aspiring leader, president, or governor, they must tell the people they intend to lead their full physical and mental condition. This is the case for aspirants and candidates; it is even more compelling for persons who are already elected and have assumed office.
The case for Nigerians to know about the health condition of key public officers especially the President is further made by the constitutional provisions which state that a president suffering from such infirmity of body or mind as renders him permanently incapable of discharging the functions of his office will be liable to be removed from office. Several action and inaction emanating from the office of the President over the years are suggesting a strong dissonance between Buhari Nigerians knew, his campaign promises and the disposition of the present occupant of the office. The Buhari Nigerians knew before assumption of office was clearly against medical tourism compared to the present occupant of the office. The Buhari Nigerians knew in his electoral promises would have taken out insurgents, bandits and terrorists ravaging the land and fought corruption to a standstill. The picture of the frugal Buhari sold to Nigerians would not take our presidential aircraft and park it in a foreign tarmac to be accumulating thousands of dollars in parking fees every night. Something is not adding up.
Nigeria is going through unprecedented economic, social, and political crisis manifesting in insecurity, poverty, unemployment, etc. We need a leader we are sure of his physical and mental condition and who can take us through these challenges. A leader who can dedicate their time, day, and night thinking about solutions to the myriad of challenges for over 200 million Nigerians in Africa’s most populous country. We cannot afford to be burdening someone with health conditions already grave enough to occupy his full hours with our unprecedented economic and social challenges. It is therefore time to ascertain the true state of health of our President to determine if he is still fit and proper to continue in office. Travelling to foreign lands for medical assistance without our knowing the medical challenge he is faced with is not the way forward.
Finally, Nigeria which has trained so many medical professionals who are leaving the country in droves for greener pastures and career satisfaction but cannot establish and run standard health facilities is a contradiction in terms. Our President is always in a foreign land seeking medical assistance- this is a testament to our underdevelopment and improper setting of priorities. It is time for us to reset our priorities.
The ball is back in the court of the President. We look forward to an honest engagement with Nigerians on the nature of the ailment that takes him out of the country at the public expense and how that ailment has affected his ability to discharge the duties of his office. May God continue to bless Nigeria.
