Exactly one year ago, we lost a friend. Dr Femi Adesina was a young, brilliant bundle of wisdom and energy. Loved and appreciated by all his patients, colleagues and friends. We have not yet recovered from the shock, which impaled our hearts
Exactly one year ago, we lost a friend. Dr Femi Adesina was a young, brilliant bundle of wisdom and energy. Loved and appreciated by all his patients, colleagues and friends. We have not yet recovered from the shock, which impaled our hearts
. Leaving us in wholesome denial. Still afraid to accept that he is gone. Many still visit him on facebook to say hello to him. But, some of us are angry. That a year after his death and many other deaths of many more young, promising, hardworking, patriotic, sane, devoted, longsuffering Nigerians, nothing has been done to stop this carnage. Femi passed on in a ghastly motor accident along Lagos-Ibadan express way. On that sad day, he left Ile-Ife to attend a wedding in Lagos but never made it to Lagos. At the time of his death, he just got married a few months before that with his wife (also a medical doctor) about 2 or 3 months pregnant. He was also a senior resident doctor at the cardiology unit of Obafemi Awololowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife.
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Femi died a death he did not deserve. Like many other young Nigerians he was made to pay dearly for believing in this system, this nation called Nigeria. Just to say a few more things about him. He was consistently a high flier during his days in the medical school with prizes to show for it amongst The 2004 Graduating class of Obafemi Awolowo University Medical School. The class was named Persons of Great Distinctions, but he was a distinction candidate amongst them all. He chose to remain in Nigeria to continue to be of service here even when the irresistible temptations of the opportunities in the UK and USA for young doctors kept tugging at him. Alas that same system failed Him.
The Nigerian system is a network of deceit and un-seriousness which if allowed lingering on would one day self-destruct. It is like a time bomb, ticking loudly for all to hear. Indeed the people know that the bomb is ticking and time is running out, however they have all chosen to get carried away by the beauty and quality of the timing device. The lovely Rolex piece used as the timing device.
They even start to dance to the rhythm of the sound of the clock. No one is trying to defuse the bomb. The bomb-squad whose members have been trained to defuse this bombs go about admiring the timing device, drinking and making merry with the people in whose houses the bombs have been planted. Some of the bombs have gone off. Others will soon go off as no one is doing anything about them.
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The question is: how and why did he die? On that fatefull day, after attending to his duties in the hospital at ile ife, he left for Lagos in a commercial vehicle which was a wagon car. He drives an Audi 80 car which he decided to leave behind. The version of the story we pieced together was that at a major part of the express road, a towing vehicle ran into the path of their own vehicle while either avoiding a bad section of the road or trying to execute an illegal maneuver on the highway. The accident was quite fatal. He and some other passengers never made it to the hospital alive. That was how. Then why?
The why is multifactorial. So many questions yet no one seems to want to answer them.
Why did he not take his car? Probably because he was trying to avoid putting himself and his very old vehicle through the stress of driving along that terrible major road after the day’s job.
Why was the tow truck making an illegal maneuver along the highway at that point and at that time? Probably he had done that several times before and the road safety officials were not vigilant enough, or he had a way of avoiding them. Probably he never had any formal training or assessment before obtaining his driver’s licence to enable enlighten him on the Highway Code. In Nigeria, a dead man could get a driver’s licence. Just give a passport-sized photo with your signature at the back with the required illegal fees and voila, the licence is ready!!! You don’t need any driving test. Ask those at the so-called testing grounds if they still test anyone. And we say we want the roads to be safe. Probably his vehicle was even not even road worthy. Yet he might have had a valid certificate of road worthiness. Vehicle inspection Officers now issue certificates of road worthiness for vehicles they never saw.
Why are our roads bad? Probably some government opposition members are the ones going about sabotaging the efforts of the government fo fix this roads, or probably the federal road maintenance agency is not given enough resources, human material and financial resources to maintain the roads or probably because they are diverting (sorry stealing) the resources.
Why don’t we have emergency services within every 20 kilometre radius of our major roads? Probably because we are not yet civilized enough to understand the value of the life of every citizen. In Nigeria, If you have 10 minutes to live in over 70% of the hospitals (putting it modestly), you are a dead man period. Even federal government owned teaching hospitals don’t have modern equipment to quickly bring a failing heart back to life in their accident and emergency units, probably because it is not necessary.
Recently while driving through the town, I saw a pickup truck in the colours of the Federal Road Safety corps speeding crazily, horns blaring with the hazard lights flashing driving through the not too busy traffic. I was wondering why the guys who were meant to keep our roads safe should be driving through the town like that. As the vehicle passed me, I reflexively looked into my rear view mirror. Only to see the reason for their frenzied driving. Lying on the floor of the truck, in a pool of his own blood, is a young man. Apparently he was being physically held down by one of the patrol men. I knew instantly that this was an accident victim probably been rushed to the teaching hospital for treatment. I felt sad for the person. What if he had a spinal injury? Amongst all other types of injuries that only a proper ambulance /emergency service would prevent the injury from getting worse before he gets to the hospital. So many questions, still no answers.
Making Nigerian roads safe requires the effort of people with vision. People who have travelled to other nations and have seen their roads should start thinking of how we can have similar roads. Every road must be designed to specifications with the due consideration for the type of vehicle that is expected to ply such roads. The federal Government should bring out a blueprint for the development of an integrated road network system that is compliant with international standards. Instead of all this film trick patchwork being done by FERMA, government should begin the reconstruction of all roads.
There should be strict laws regarding the issuance of driver’s licences and this should be enforced with the right penalty against erring individuals. Individuals should be made to undergo periodic assessment to decide if they are still capable of using the road safely.
So many promising Nigerians have been wasted on our roads. Dr. Femi Adesina, fondly called ”Femi Foshe” is just one of many. He died exactly 1 year ago. We all love and miss him. We will continue to pray for his wife and little daughter who never had a chance to get a hug from her daddy.
This is written in memory of Dr Femi Adesina, who was a senior resident doctor in the cardiology unit of Department of Medicine at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Ile-Ife, until his death on the 6th of November in a ghastly motor accident along Lagos-Ibadan express way, close to Sagamu.
May his soul continue to rest in peace. Amen
Please, Readers of Sahara Reporters, Kindly visit his page on facebook (search for his profile femi adesina) to leave a message for his wife and daughter. Just to encourage them. God bless you all. Ao ni fi iru e gbaa o. Amin!!!
Ola Ibigbami is a resident doctor at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Wesley Guild Hospital Unit
Ilesha
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