Nigerian ruling party presidential candidate heads to Germany for medical treatment
LAGOS, Nigeria: With just weeks to go before Nigeria's presidential vote, the governing party candidate arrived in Germany on Wednesday for medical treatment and was in stable condition, his spokesman said.
[ International Herald Tribune ]
To most of you, this headlines doesn't mean much. Who cares if a Nigerian presidential candidate went to Europe to get some medical treatment? Well to me and a couple of others out there it means much more. It means that this guy who is about to be elected president of one of the most oil rich country in the world doesn't trust his own country's health care system to get a simple check up (On a radio interview yesterday with the BBC, he confirmed that it was his annual check up). Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be for the American health care system if Obama, Kennedy, Guliani, or McCain were to fly to another country to get a simple check up? It's really pathetic that with all the oil profits over the last few years, the country can not build one hospital deemed good enough by its political leaders to get a simple check up. What is the average Nigerian who can't afford to fly to Europe going to do? And why would a Nigerian doctor practicing abroad go back to practice in his/her birth country when it's quite obvious that the members of the elite class have no faith in the practitioners and the system. To be fair to this guy, he is not the only African leader to do this. It's a pretty prominent practice amongst African leaders. The point I'm trying to make here is that this is deplorable. At some point, African leaders will have to stop fleeing to Europe for all their needs/wants and will have to invest in their respective country and show some faith to in their fellow country men's skills and abilities. If they do not do this, the brain drainage in Africa will continue and the continent will never realize its potential.
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