Wednesday, August 28, 2013

The Doctor Amongst Other Health Workers

 There is an ibo saying meant to emphasize the power in numbers. It advances the philosophy that if you decide to cook for the entire community they will gladly gather and enjoy the feast. But if the entire community decides to cook for you, you will choke.

This article is inspired by an incident which took place yesterday evening.

I work in a mission hospital run by a partnership between Nigerians and Americans. During some introductions one of the Americans said to a Nigerian 'Good evening, I hear you're a pharmacist. I'm Pharmacist Green'. The Nigerian replies the American thus: 'No, I'm a Doctor of Pharmacy, I'm Dr. Igbinovia'. I slumped in my chair in utter shock.

In reality, Health-care delivery isn't a question of nomenclature it is about service. As a rule, I never write a title before my name. I'm simply Obasi Ndubisi. But that's exactly where the prevailing mentality in Nigeria gives a visitor to this country a rude culture shock. Nigerian's are so title conscious!!! We can go on strike because of a title. Nay, I dare say a Nigerian can kill and be killed for a title! That's not even where it ends. In an ideal setting, Healthcare delivery isn't about numbers, it is a question of people. But in Nigeria I'm yet to find a single situation that's ideal or even approximates being an ideal situation. Ideal situations don't exist anywhere in Nigeria. In reality this is exactly where the other health workers have juggled the system against the doctor. They've tried successfully to make the health sector to be about numbers. You should be at their meetings. I have friends who are leaders at there. Their refrain is that there is power in numbers. While the doctor's remains patients care first, theirs is solidarity forever. While the doctor insists his association is a professional body, his support staffs pretense to forming professional bodies is akin to putting a wrong label on a wrong bottle. For their unions are actually trade unions concerned ONLY about the welfare of their profession. To their credit however, they tend to be acutely concerned with forming alliances that will boost their number. That is where the Nigerian Doctor has failed. He hasn't formed any vital connection with other professional bodies in the health sector. He cannot say the pharmacist is his ally. He cannot say the nurse will rally round him when push comes to shove. He cannot call on the Laboratory Scientist for a just cause. He can only himself with a certain supercillousness which by the way, the public has observed. This has made it utterly impossible for the Nigerian Doctor to be seen as a community leader. The Nigerian Doctor is so far away from the community, always holed up in some consulting room or in some library reading for his numerous professional exams. The doctor wouldn't attend the wedding of a nurse, He wouldn't even attend the wedding ceremony of a fellow Doctor. He's too busy to be seen at social functions, nay, he thinks they are beneath him. My wedding is soon and I'm not expecting to see Doctors there. Thankfully from my early days I noticed this deficiency in the genetic make up of the Nigerian Doctor and I made more friends outside the Medical Profession than within - those ones are more community oriented. The Nigerian Doctor is quick to talk about the Lawyer but what they fail to realize is that Lawyers are immersed in society. They derive their sense of worth in their community organization and social commentaries. They are prominent public affairs analysts. They even take up pro bono cases representing the poor for free or for a token fee. Little wonder they have amassed tremendous public support. And that is a Lawyers wealth. Today the public will be more willing to save a Lawyer from the guillotine than to save a Doctor. So Lawyers get all they want. Not just because they are an arm of government but because of their romance with the public. For in modern society, communities don't sympathize with those who they feel deem themselves superior.

Having worked in villages, on Christian missions out reaches, delivering free medical care to the poorest of the poor, I can say first hand that the public will only sympathize with the Nigerian Doctor the day he eats their food, wears their clothes, speaks their language and becomes a vital part of their community. For as long as the nurse is seen as being more accessible in the community so long will the nurse have the public sympathy. For as long as the community pharmacist is seen as being more patient and willing to listen to a clients ramblings so long so long will the pharmacy be the first and often times last resort of most clients. This is undeniably so because the pulse of culture today shows that the community is where the action is. Barrack Obama, a Lawyer by training was a community mobilizer first, long before becoming a Senatorial candidate. The health sector being a vital part of a society's cultural identity, is naturally moving towards a community centred approach - which I have tagged communi-centrism. For a long time now I have canvassed at the top of my lungs that we adopt as a long term strategy, a Community Driven Development (CDD) model. It seems other health workers are cashing in on this trend while the Nigerian Doctor is fighting for turf in his traditional ground - the hospital. Truth is that Community Pharmacists are becoming more relevant to society than the Nigerian doctor, stuck in his consulting room. The reality is that a certain physiotherapist who I know very well, who renders home call services, is more dear to the hearts of her clients than the doctor who would never write a prescription while coming out of the banking hall but would insist on seeing the client at the clinic.

I intend to challenge stereotypes with this article.

For too long the Nigerian Doctor has done everything to reinforce stereotypes. The Nigerian Doctor is the only one who doesn't know that Community Medicine is the new Medicine and Private Practise is the next best thing. To make it all grim for the doctor in the midst of his support staff, the Nurse unites with the pharmacist, the Laboratory Scientists, technicians and technologists, the physiotherapists, record clerks and administrators, and as long as that continues to happen so long will they get whatever they want. That's the bitter truth. They will increasingly make the consulting rooms a prison for the Nigerian Doctor from which he must break out. I write this out of frustration. For today all the doctor has is the moral strength that comes from saving lives but the support staff have the numerical strength. The doctor has the position of power but the allied health workers have the voting power. And soon the position of power will be up for contest. On any issue, the other health professionals are certain to have their way. They have understood the game of politics, that it is all about numbers and a unity of purpose.

The lack of unity among doctors is as legendary as it is a shame. The rift is sharp and the gulf is wide between Senior doctors and younger ones. The divide is marked between Consultants, Resident doctors and Medical Officers. The doctors pride and prejudice over and against his fellow doctors in training is alarming and that is the cause of their travail. It brings tears to my eyes that the Chief Medical Directors stand in strong opposition to their colleagues and I don't blame them. The CMDs are always caught in the cross fire between House Officers and Medical officers, between Medical officers and residents, between residents and consultants... So even if a CMDs or CMAC was a former NMA or NARD leader, the realities of sharp division in the doctors ranks neutralizes his power and ties his hands. I speak from the vantage point of being a family friend to a couple of CMDs. Have you ever heard some CMACs lament? Listen to what they say in the community. After consulting hours go out into social circles. Save your profession by Saving yourself from a reclusive existence. Your power starts and ends in the teaching Hospitals O Nigerian Doctor. You are bereft of the efforts that go into legislations, legislations that will turn around and bite you. O Nigerian Doctor you have no clue what goes on in the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly. You have no clue what goes on in the meetings of the nurses and pharmacists and Laboratory Scientists. But they know all that goes on in your NEC meetings as we speak. We have them as wives and husbands and we tell them our hearts. Because they are more united and more committed to the advancement of their profession by fair or foul means, they tell their leaders all you discuss at your NEC! They even have spies in your midst, regular attendees of your meetings. So their leaders preempt your every move and launch preemptive strikes.

The Nigerian Doctor has been alone cooking for the entire health sector and they have enjoyed the feast. Now the entire Health Sector has decided to cook for the doctor and what we find is a situation in which the last JOHESU strike was actually preemptive strike.

Iroko Obasi ND

Sunday, August 25, 2013

HEALTH BENEFITS OF EXERCISES

 I'm scheduled to give a pep talk on the above subject in a few hours. I have decided to distill my thoughts here for the benefits of those who will not be opportuned to attend. I will approach the subject in these broad headings:

- Common Exercise Mistakes
- Recommended Physical Activities
- Benefits of Exercise


Common Exercise Mistakes:

#1. Doing Isolated Exercises:

Some people make the funny mistakes of saying 'I want to do sit ups and crunches to reduce my tummy'. There is nothing as ineffective as wanting to use a one-muscle-at-a-time technique. These neither stimulate enough muscle fibers nor expend enough energy to burn calories.

If you want high definitin, do exercises that stimulate as many muscles as possible and expend as many calories as possible at the same time.

#2. Using Machines

Some people think expensive gyms in high brow parts of town with fancy machines are high end and will give high definition. Sorry to disappoint you. The truth is that machines limit your ability to fully activate your muscle fibers. And this means less fat burnt and less muscle definition.

Worse still machines do cause Shoulder strain. Ankle strain, knee strains as well as sprains.

Instead of fantasizing about fancy machines, do exercises that allow your body a full range of natural motion, so that you can sky rocket your body metabolism and tone from head to toe. Good examples of such natural activities: Gardening, Swimming, Dancing At the Club, Skating, Cycling up hill, Brisk Walks, Skipping, Jogging, Frog Jumps etc

#3. Doing Exercises For Long Hours

There is a temptation to hit the gym and go on and on. It is hilarious to imagine how some think the hours they spend at the gym make them look better. That's a mistake. Its length never counts as much as the consistency and rhythm.

#4. Repeating The Same Routine Over and Over Again

Humans are creatures of habit. We tend to get stuck in a particuular mode so long as it works well for us. But getting stuck in a particular mode is the worst thing we can do to ourselves. Because our body adapts to routine and soon we become resistant to an oft repeated schedule.

Recommended Exercises

The Federal Government Physical Activity Guideline for Americans is as follows:

#1. 150 minutes of moderate intensity
#2. 75 minutes of vigorus intensity
#3. 300 minutes of moderate activity
#4. 150 minutes of vigorous activity a week

Moderate Activity includes brisk walking, swimming, dancing with your family in your living room, table tennis, cycling on level ground, skate boarding.

Vigorous activity includes Jogging, Running, Dancing At The Club, Cycling Uphill or in Rugged Terrain, Lawn Tennis.

Many readers suffer from illnesses that can be prevented with good exercise.

The Body Mass Index is a means of assessing an individuals risk of developing disease from lack of exercise, being overweight and obese. Obesity is a clinical term classified using the Body Mass Index which is calculated as: your weight in Kilograms divided by the square of your height in metres (Kg/m square). For example an adult weighing 70 kg with Height 1.75 metres has a BMI of 70/1.75 square=22.9.
The normal BMI is between 18.5 -24.9.
Overweight people have BMI 25 - 29.9.
Obese people have anything greater than BMI of 30. A BMI greater than 40 is a severe case of obesity. The higher your BMI the greater your risk of complications from weight gain.

Furthermore a waist circumference of > 102 cm for men and >88 in women puts such people at risk of metabolic and cardiovascular complications of overweight. The reasons for being overweight are as follows:

1. Obesogenic environment
2. Increased portion of meals
3. Snacking and loss of regular meals
4. Energy dense food (mainly fat)
5. Affluence
6. Car ownership
7. Decreased Walking
8. Lack of Sports in Schools and after work
9. Length of time spent on video games & TV
10. Lack of Manual Labour

Benefits Of Exercise

10. Improves the mind

I personally take 1 hour walks round my estate at least 3 times a week after working hours and at least 3 times a week between 5am and 6am. This allows my brains secrete Dopamine, Serotonin and endorphins.

Dopamine is the feel good hormone. Its the same chemical secreted during moments of relaxation, celebration or joyous emotion. It is the substance believers have in high doses when they are in ecstatic worship. It is the hormone science says is lacking in depression.

Serotonin has been implicated in the science of sleep. It is the hormone that is released in ample quantity when you sleep and gives you that refreshing feeling when you wake. People that are depressed tend to wake up from sleep feeling unrested having reduced amounts of this hormone. Most anti depressants therefore prevent its re uptake or increase its availability. Naturally occuring forms of serotonin are in banana. And slow steady work ouuts several times a week genrally increases serotonin levels.

#9. Improves Confidence and self esteem

- it reduces stress: Exercise reduces stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. Cortisol is the hormone that makes you feel tired just before dosing off to sleep. A habit of running a few yards every morning is sure to work better than coffee! Adrenaline is the chemical that your brain shoots when you're upset and wish to fight or run from a threatening situation. Ever felt like the ground should open and swallow you? That's adrenaline! Ever felt lik hitting your boss! That's so not advisable but that's adrenaline. Exercise is a good stress buster. Just imagine while working out that you're hitting hard at your boss! Maybe that will motivate you.

- Exercise Makes you smarter: You will definitely feel more focused, more alert, better able to understand and respond in social situations. So you will naturally feel smarter than you actually are.

- Exercise gives you a sense of accomplishment: Exercise is a discipline which is all about setting and achieving goals. Start out with a walk plan of half an hour everyday. After a couple of months you should start running an hour everyday. Soon you will be lifting light weights. This steady progress will boost your self confidence.

- It makes you stronger: Honestly if you're physically strong it can make you feel mentally strong too. When you see how your body is transforming, naturally your confidence soars.

- It makes you look better: Body image issues and low self esteem are all because everyone at a time in their lives don't like the way they look.

- It makes you feel better: Through exercises you explore new places. I know every corner in my estate because of my daily routines. Through exercise you meet new people. I have a good friend in the National Assembly of this nation who I met at a Gym in Benin City! Through exercise you develop a positive mental attitude

#8. Reduces Health Problems and Disease

- Reduces risk of dying prematurely
- Reduces risk of heart disease
- Reduces risk of diabetes
- Reduces risk of High Blood Pressure
- Reduces risk of Colonic Cancer
- Reduces feelings of depression and anxiety
- Maintains weight at a certain level

Daily exercise strengthens your heart muscle, raises your HDL (good cholesterol), reduces you LDL (bad cholesterol) and eliminates toxic triglycerides, generally improving blood flow. Physical activity reduces body fat and prevents rise in Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar.

Low back pain is a result of bad posture. Daily exercise improves flexibility, posture, muscle strength, endurance and as such prevents back pain. In tandem with the above, regular weight bearing exercises can promote calcium deposition, thereby improving bone formation while at the same time preventing calcium depletion and the many forms of bone problems associated with ageing.

Ever heard of ageing gracefully? Most celebrities age remarkably because the nature of their show biz profession is such that they maintain rigorous exercise regimens. Exercise is the only elixir that guarantees graceful aging.

#7. Improves your sleep

Some tips for your working hours includes Standing up at your desk, getting up for short breaks, moving around your office complex at scheduled intervals. Prof. Marco Tullio de Mello says that simply spending too much time seating down at your work desk will affect your sleep negatively after work hours.

Sitting < 8 hrs a day = good sleep after work hours

Sitting > 8 hrs a day = poor sleep after work hours

#6. Helps you lose weight and fat

#5. Boosts your energy levels

#4. Builds friendship

#3. Learn new sports and skills

#2. Reduces and Reverses muscle loss

Every 10 years we lose 5 pounds of muscle from the age of 18 and we gain 5 pounds of fat. Simply adding a 5 pound dumb bell to your routine will stop this process

#1. Exercise has a positive effect on your Sex Life

Weight Loss has been proven to scientifically increase testosterone levels and sex drive. Research has shown that 150 minutes of exercise a week increases testosterone by 15 % and reduces Erectile Dysfunction by 46 %. Also loosing abdominal fat increases blood flow to the penis and by the time a man loses 5 - 10 % of his body weight his sex drive increases by the same percentage. The following exercises boost sexual performance:

- Kegel Exercises: named after the man who invented these exercises, they are meant to tone the sling muscle in both men and women. The pubococcygeus muscle slings accross the Rectum and urethra. When is contracts it can be used to control urination even when urination has started. In the same way as it controls the micturition reflex, it can also control male orgasm by inhibiting early release of semen. Men who have mastered the art of controlling the Kegel's muscle rarely suffer from premature ejaculation lasting >15 minutes on a round of sex. The ideal time a man should have penetrative intercourse is stated by gynaecologists to be thus: A man should stay as long as it takes for his woman to have a well established penetrative orgasm. The he can ejaculate afterwards.

-Weight Lifting: this has also been shown to increase testosterone levels. Although when men overdo it, their sexual performance may decline. So, moderation is the key. These exercises build the upper body strength and as such increase stamina during sex. Since men use much of the upper body for support and leverage while thrusting away.

- Yoga: The Bow pose, Peacock pose and shoulder stand are all good exercises for building stamina especially for women. Women need flexibility during sex in order to enable them adopt a variety of natural positions and establish a wide range of hip and pelvic motion.

- Brisk Walking: Available research shows that it decreases Erectile Dysfunction by 30 %. Men with Erectile Dysfunction are embarrased a lot of times to find that their great member goes limp at the exact moment of truth when penetration is attempted. In other cases, they find that after penetration, they go limp before releasing semen. Most of this cases are as a result of weight related problems. If a man were to burn 200 calories a day as recommended in an earlier section of this article, by an exercise as mild as brisk walking for 2 miles a day. His 'winner' will win always by enjoying optimal blood flow.

- Swimming.

I hope this pep talk has helped so many people. Please give me feedback if it has. Feel free to ask questions and make comments.

Iroko Obasi ND

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

DEPORTATION OF FELLOW NIGERIANS BY FELLOW NIGERIANS


Deportation: Where Fashola Fumbled
August 5, 2013 - 15.34pm

By Rudolph Okonkwo
During both winter and summer, in the same layers and layers of clothes, he sits each morning on the platform of Forest Hills train station. The stench from his body, unwashed for months, hits your nostril from 200 yards. His unkempt hair and beard rest on a heap of clothes stuffed in a plastic bag as he dozes off. Inside the F train heading to downtown Manhattan, his other colleague occupies half a section of the coach. Straphangers congregate at the other end, hands over their noses. Some days, he would be sleeping, mouth open and saliva dripping. Other days he would be in the pool of his urine or vomit or any other bodily fluid. Before you get off on 34th St, the woman with the baby would come into your coach, with a toddler in tow. In a foreign accent she would plead for change to feed her daughter. Some straphangers would take a look at the baby and give her change, even though the voice on the public address system repeats a City of New York advisory not to give money to anyone in the train because panhandling is illegal. Outside the subway, along Madison Square Garden, the one they call the preacher positions himself near the Central Post Office. When he is not reading out loud lines from Isaiah, he is speaking to a picture in an old newspaper. In the shopping cart beside him are all his possessions. The last time I tried to count the number of plastic bags hanging on his cart I stopped at twenty-four. Further up, toward Macy’s, the largest store in the world, an Iraq war veteran sits by the curb. A sign in front of him says he is a veteran who’s going through hard times and needs help to eat.
I see these poor, homeless, and in some cases, mentally ill people, every time I go into the city. The 47 million tourists who visit New York City every year also see them. The sight of the poor, the homeless and the mentally ill has not stopped them from coming. The billionaire mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, sees them too when he takes a train to his office at City Hall or as he visits Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence. It is a regular topic of discussion by the city council. Every year the city takes a census of the homeless. The last count says there were 55, 000 of them, including 21,000 children. The city provides food pantries and shelters for 50,000 homeless people each night. Another 5000 adults and children pass the night on the streets or in other public spaces. Each year, over 100,000 New Yorkers spend at least one night in a city shelter. It’s a burden for the City of New York.
And there are over 26,000 Social workers and over 100,000 councilors in New York state who are working in conjunction with several non-profits to rehabilitate the homeless. The city knows each of these homeless New Yorkers. They have a file on each because everyone of them has a story. And the stories are so familiar. Like in the movie, “Trading Places”, where the Duke brothers, Randolph and Mortimer, lost their fortune and we later found them as homeless beggars in the movie, “Coming to America”, the city knows that many homeless people simply hit hard times. It is common knowledge that most people in America are one paycheck away from homelessness. The 2008 economic down turn sent a lot to the homeless corner. The city is aware that they weren’t just people who entered the bus to come to New York to beg. Many used to pay taxes to the city. Others fought for the country in several wars. The city works very hard to give their lives some dignity. Even those who choose to stay in the subway or stay by the street side; those who are drug addicts; those who could have been getting transitional assistants, food stamps and other government programs for the poor, the city diligently works to rehabilitate them. Working with state and federal officials, the city knows that the measure of its humanity is not in how it treats the rich and the powerful, but in how it treats the most vulnerable. In severe weather conditions, the city goes round to make sure that each of them is not exposed to rough weather.
How to accommodate the poor, the homeless and the mentally ill is one problem that all the mega cities of the world are dealing with each day. Even Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who as a mayor was on a mission to clean up New York City, did not load the homeless in a bus and dump them across the Hudson River. If Giuliani had done so, the city police chief would have been the one to arrest the mayor. He would have been charged with mistreatment and abuse of the most vulnerable in society. The city council would have impeached him immediately and he would have spent a dozen years in jail after which his law license would have been revoked. It is that serious.
Such is not the case in Nigeria where Gov. Babatunde Fashola last week sent some Nigerians out of Lagos and back to the Eastern part of Nigeria. The haggling over which aspect of the story is true and what term to use to explain what happened does not minimize the import. On the specifics of the so-called reintegration or, if you, like deportation of some Nigerians from Lagos to Onitsha by the Lagos state government, I’m not a lawyer but my hunch is that it is not constitutional. Even if it is constitutional, it is immoral. That it has been going on for years between states does not make it constitutional, if it is not. And it does not make it moral, something I’m sure it isn’t. Just because the lynching of suspects, some innocent, some guilty, on the streets of Nigeria has been going on for years in almost every city does not make it constitutional or moral.
That many commentators seem to have descended on Gov. Fashola of Lagos state for something others have done before is primarily because people expect more from him. Take away the National cake, Lagos is probably the only economically viable state in Nigeria. Lagos state governor therefore owes Nigeria the responsibility to prove that the building of a nation that we have embarked on can work. If he is not held above board, who would? Akpabio? It’s often a waste of time analyzing the activities of some governors who have no mental capability good enough to run a local government area.

In this deportation story, several questions beg for answers: when dealing with the so-called ‘destitutes’ became a problem for Lagos state, did the state seek help from the Federal ministry responsible for such a population? Did those representing Lagos State in the National Assembly push bills asking for special help from the Federal government to deal with the influx of the “destitutes”? If it failed, did Lagos state sue the Federal government to force them to help? If everything failed, how did the Lagos state government determine the proper way to handle the process? Who did they consult to figure out the constitutionality of their plan of action? Do they understand the wider implications of what happened? How it will unleash those on the fringe and reinforce the stereotypes. Do they for instance fault those who fear that this policy implies that some Nigerians have the right to stay in Lagos while others do not? Do they understand that some of those crying foul are worried that today it may be the “destitutes” but tomorrow it may be mechanics?
So these people were detained at the Rehabilitation and Training Center in Ikorodu and Alausa and maybe others. How many were they? For how long? Did they learn new skills while in detention? According to Lagos State, they wanted to be reunited with their people at home. If so, why didn’t Lagos State give them money to return home since the state has been generous enough to train them and feed them for so long? Why did they need security escort to be transported home? So, Lagos state asked Anambra state in April to come to the Rehabilitation Center to meet these folks. Anambra State did not follow through. Next, Lagos State packed the “destitutes” into a bus and headed to Onitsha in the middle of the night. Is that the best practice that the state that calls itself the one of excellence can muster? Is that the example that Fashola can show the rest of the country and the world on how to humanly handle the most vulnerable in the society?
In the communications between Lagos State and Anambra State, Lagos state noted that 14 of these “destitutes” wish to be reunited with their folks at home after being locked up, incommunicado for 6 months to 2 years. Who will not want to go home after such a long time in what is virtually a prison? On Lagos State’s list of 14 deportees were Victoria Agboola from Obudu LGA and Sunday Irabo. Is Obudu a local government area in Anambra state and does Victoria Agboola sound like an Nnewi name? Did anybody in the Lagos state government check with Anambra state born Commissioner for Planning if Obudu is in Anambra state? There is no record of Lagos State informing Anambra state that on this day and at this time we will be bringing in this number of people to Onitsha, please wait for them. Was Lagos state expecting Anambra state officials to be at Onitsha head bridge at 4 am to receive these people?
Did Lagos state give the people they dumped at Onitsha head bridge transport money to get to their towns and villages? I’m assuming that Lagos state gave these people cell phone to call their folks at home and say, “Oh, come and pick us up at Onitsha head bridge. We are home! Thanks to the kindness of Fashola.” The ACN’s man from Anambra state, Chris Ngige, one of the senators who have not written a bill in 2 years issued a statement supporting the action Lagos state took. When Lagos state was not getting the right responses from the irresponsible Gov. Peter Obi, did Lagos state try to work with Chris Ngige, a former governor of the state to ensure a smooth operation? When nobody came to receive the “destitutes”, did Fashola’s people hand them over to the Red Cross, at least?
Gov. Fashola is capable of rising above the sea of mediocrity swallowing Nigeria. But he has allowed himself to be seduced by the chants of the sycophants who are drunk on the cool aid of low expectations. It’s preventing him from seeing the difficult but honorable steps to the pinnacle of greatness. It is not enough to hang out with Bono or Bill Gates or Bill Clinton. What defines you most is the value you espouse in your actions.
“Nigeria is one of the most unjust nations on earth,” says Pat Utomi. No issue brings that out like the way we treat the poor, the homeless and the mentally ill in our midst. The people we have conveniently called the ‘destitutes’. These are children of Nigeria. They, like us all, have the potential to contribute to our nation’s growth. “The society we abuse today,” the hypocrite, Gov. Obi, used to say, “will take its revenge on our children.”

A hundred years from now, our children’s children will be ashamed of us all- from East to West, North to South, for the awful way we treat the poor, the homeless and the mentally ill. They will look at our age and call it the dark ages.
Gov. Babatunde Raji Fashola fumbled at the same place that most of us do- we think there are some lives that do not count as much as ours- that for instance, our housemaid who feeds our children is less important than our children; and that our driver, whose skill determines whether we make it to and fro each day, is less important than our siblings; and that our security guard, whose vigilance secures our home, is less important than our parents. It’s at the heart of our tragedy. It is the reason why we assume that injustice inflicted on “others” will not eventually get to us. History shows that it does. Injustice usually starts with the most vulnerable who had nobody to speak up for them until it gets to us. And that is when Martin Niemöller said there would not be anybody left to speak for us.

If I were Fashola, I would have called a press conference to apologize for bungling an operation that should not have happened in the first place. Despite Fashola’s posturing as a cosmopolitan actor, he would not apologize in public because the action he took made him a hero to several admirers!

Iroko Obasi nD