Everybody who reads the newspapers, patronises the social media or watches independent television stations like CHANNELS or AIT is by now familiar with one ongoing national disgrace involving the Federal Ministry of Health, FMH. Nothing can be further from the truth. Unknown to most Nigerians and others observing from abroad is the fact that one of the reasons Professor Isaac F Adewole, also known as IFA by his College of Medicine colleagues, has not resigned is the fact that he has also administered the FMH in a manner that might trigger nationwide prolonged strike by doctors in the federal civil service at a time when it might sabotage the President’s re-election campaign.
It is no secret that Buhari’s second term is not something enthusiastically supported by me. But, if he must go, it should not be because some of his top officials deliberately or inadvertently brought down his downfall. A national strike, which is now building up according to very reliable sources, by senior health workers early next year, close to the elections, will all but guarantee that Buhari returns to Daura to his ranch instead of Aso Rock and its alleged demons in May 29, 2019. It will be too late for Buhari to make amends when the strike starts on account of having a Minister of Health who behaves as if the FMH staff members are like his students in the College of Medicine. Somebody, mainly President Buhari, will pay dearly for his intransigence. More on that later.
At the moment, one of the leading stories which refuses to go away concerns the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, a unit under the FMH. Without any reasonable doubt left, President Buhari has openly humiliated the Minister of Health, Professor Adewole, and just as brazenly sided with the Professor Usman Yusuf, the Executive Secretary, ES, of the NHIS, who comes from Katsina state and is known to be a close relation of the President. Lee Kwuan Yew’s statement about leaders promoting their families and favouring their friends could not have been more deliberately demonstrated by Buhari. Allow me to summarise the series of events which resulted in the latest slap in the face for IFA.
On October 18, 2018, the Board of the NHIS, headed by Dr Enyantulfenne, announced the suspension of Professor Yusuf on account of allegations of massive corruption levelled against the ES. The allegations included massive misappropriation of funds and nepotism among others. The funds said to have been mismanaged run into millions of naira. All these were reportedly happening in a government promoting itself as fighting corruption. It needs to be added, at this juncture, that the former US Ambassador to Nigeria, William Stuart Symington, in his book published recently, has reminded us that “What many people consider as the great corruption is stealing of money, but, what to me is the great corruption is when people are deprived of justice, when you do things without regard to the rule of law.” Prof Yusuf has been accused of stealing as well as “doing things without to the rule of law”.
One would have expected the President of Nigeria to stand clear and let the law take its course on this matter.
The October suspension of Prof. Yusuf was not the first. He had earlier been sent on suspension by the Minister for the same reasons. That decision was reversed by the Presidency without consultations with IFA. Prof. Yusuf who was rumoured to be insubordinate to the Minister and who repeatedly boasted that nobody could touch him on account of his closeness to Buari was returned to his office in total disregard of one of the iron laws or organisation management. You don’t humiliate a superior officer just to please his subordinate without creating chaos in the system. But, Buhari, despite his years in the military cares very little about institutional norms once nepotism rears its ugly head in a matter. Predictably, the man returned to his desk more defiant than ever – all in the knowledge that he is untouchable. The offenses apparently mounted and the petitions became torrential.
Years ago, when I came close to being totally broke, as an economist, it occurred to me to develop for myself a new measurement of wealth and how to measure that elusive concept. I soon realised that ordinary accounting methods are totally useless because they only point the way to self-disgrace for people who are experiencing hard times financially. I had to decide what I would not do to earn money under any circumstances. The tough time fortunately did not last long. But, the tough decision endures till today. Permit me to apply those measures to IFA’s predicament which, to me, is largely self-created.
The Minister was over-ruled by the President without regard to the processes of the system. It was contemptuous of the Minister. Right there and then a Minister with any modicum of self-respect and one without inferiority complex should have resigned and go home. One might ask that apart from the huge financial benefits accruing to Ministers, what held Professor Adewole back? As a Professor of Medicine, and a former Vice Chancellor, he is already more than comfortable by Nigerian standards. He could have gone abroad and continued teaching, earning dollars in several advanced countries, or more modestly, become an Emeritus Professor here at home. Why, was he accepting the disgrace brought about by nepotism and ethnic champions? Where was the sense of self-worth? He was insulted with his own consent.
Unfortunately, once a person allows others to abuse him without raising objections, he almost always invites another attack. This time, it was the Board of the NHIS which initiated the move for suspension. But, it still required the consent of the Minister – which was given willingly. At that point one should have asked Prof why he thought Buhari would change his attitude and allow the suspension to stand? Why would a politician who took a position with his mind on votes in a state change when elections are closer and risk losing those votes? Buhari might be deceiving Nigerians about fighting a war against corruption, but the vast majority of his Fellow Citizens in Katsina state are not interested. Indeed, they remind me of that quip by Honore de Balzac, 1799-1850, who said “I am beginning to wonder how many fools it takes to make the term “My Fellow citizens”. Buhari’s primary constituency would find it absolutely strange that an officer was suspended for stealing money. Why? That is what they always do and that is what they still do even in Katsina. Adewole should have excused himself from partaking in that suspension order because it would only result in the embarrassment which he now again experiences. But, having signed on, he should have braised himself for the possibility of another rebuff by Buhari and his resignation letter should have been ready to be delivered.
The real question is: why has the Minister failed to resign? That takes us back to the first part of this article. Adewole has been accepting a lot of rubbish because he is not totally clean himself. He runs the Ministry of Health as if he is a professor with a classroom full of students. Highhandedness is also a sin of which he can be accused. And, it is hard to believe that the man who spent his life as a public servant in the health/education sector treats his former colleagues with disdain – now that he is a Minister.
One aspect of his intransigence is now threatening to blow up in his face and create a big problem for Buhari. Years of entitlements owed to doctors in the service of the Federal Government remain unpaid and there are indications that some of the funds have been released to the Ministry months ago. But, till today nothing has been delivered to the workers. Efforts, including a letter from me to the Minister to explain what happened to the funds have not been acknowledged. Inquiries on my last trip to Abuja reveal that all the staff of the Ministry appear to be aware that there is a deliberate attempt to withhold the funds from the doctors for reasons best known to Prof. Adewole. Buhari is sitting on a keg of gun powder as long as IFA remains in that Ministry. Obviously, the President has two misfits to deal with — not one. It is simply inexplicable why a Minister cannot be forthcoming about public funds in his care if there is nothing to hide. Whatever happened to transparency? Was this the way UI was managed?
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