March 9, 2010
Emmanuel Onwubiko’s article on Saharareporters that berated Pfizer for their humanitarian role that turned soar, could have been commended, but it came out at the wrong time in the protracted fight for settlement. Onwubiko’s writing at present seems belated and I wonder where he had been all these years as the head of Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria, when all credible nongovernmental organizations where being asked to come out and help seek for solution to the saga.
Emmanuel Onwubiko’s article on Saharareporters that berated Pfizer for their humanitarian role that turned soar, could have been commended, but it came out at the wrong time in the protracted fight for settlement. Onwubiko’s writing at present seems belated and I wonder where he had been all these years as the head of Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria, when all credible nongovernmental organizations where being asked to come out and help seek for solution to the saga.
It is a pity that Onwubiko’s attention was only drawn on the matter, according to him, by “the detailed story published in the Guardian of Sunday March 7th 2010. “ Yet he went on to draw conclusions on the opening paragraph of his write up. As someone who has observed the battle for the compensation, my advice to people like Onwubiko is that the stage he is joining the fray has been over. What we are talking now is the best system to use to make sure that the right people are paid the compensation. It is also important that we treat Pfizer with some decency as an organization that answered our distress call. We should always remember that there is still another day.
The crux of the matter is that in 1996, there was an outbreak of meningitis epidemics in Kano State. The epidemic was the most serious epidemic of cerebral-spinal meningitis ever recorded in Nigeria, and it put a significant strain on the healthcare system of the country. The epidemic was not limited to Kano State, but the spread was also felt in many states in Northern Nigeria. There were 21,739 cases of meningitis and about 1,000 deaths, with the Infectious Disease Hospital in Kano reporting 6,133 cases and mortality of 247. The situation had overwhelmed the state government, making it necessary to seek assistance from the federal government and international agencies. Pfizer, due to the experience they had gathered from the 1985 outbreak of the same epidemic in Kano State, had responded to the State government distress call and requested to participate in the treatment of patients. With the granting of the request by the state government, The NAFDA legally granted Pfizer the authority to import the drug Trovan into the country for trial study. From the above indication, it seems to me that the intention of Pfizer in volunteering their help was to provide a more effective treatment for meningitis over currently available treatments.
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We were all happy that Pfizer had decided to settle out of court and appointment of credible Nigerians, as suggested by well meaning Nigerians, to serve in the committee to disburse the $35 million dollars earmarked for the victims. The problem, as we all know is that there are Nigerians who do not believe that the actual victims are not born to enjoy the due compensation they are entitled to. This is the reason for the introduction of the DNA. But like all things Nigerian, we are taking the committee members to cleaners with spurious accusations. What is wrong with the board having a befitting office and cars to do their business? Out of a settlement of about $75 million, according to the accusation, the board got $4.5 million for the purchase of secretariat building, furniture, cars and other basic accessories required for them to achieve the desired objectives. It is important to note, according Onwubiko that the $4.5 million was not part of the $35 million compensation for the victims.
My advice to people like Onwubiko is to help with the acceleration of payment of compensation to the right victims. This, he could do by helping to expose those Nigerians who are raising spurious claims and playing the middlemen to defraud the actual victims. Kano people know these people but it not easy to expose such people. The board that is appointed is not doing Pfizer’s job. Their job is to find best way of disbursing the compensations to the right people. This is not easy in a place like Nigeria, when the vultures know that the dollar is on ground for payment to poor Nigerian victims. The board members are well meaning Nigerians and we should encourage them to do their job without fear or favour. We should also remember that we do not have the DNA facilities in the country to process more than 200 people within a short period of time.
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It is a pity that Onwubiko’s attention was only drawn on the matter, according to him, by “the detailed story published in the Guardian of Sunday March 7th 2010. “ Yet he went on to draw conclusions on the opening paragraph of his write up. As someone who has observed the battle for the compensation, my advice to people like Onwubiko is that the stage he is joining the fray has been over. What we are talking now is the best system to use to make sure that the right people are paid the compensation. It is also important that we treat Pfizer with some decency as an organization that answered our distress call. We should always remember that there is still another day.
The crux of the matter is that in 1996, there was an outbreak of meningitis epidemics in Kano State. The epidemic was the most serious epidemic of cerebral-spinal meningitis ever recorded in Nigeria, and it put a significant strain on the healthcare system of the country. The epidemic was not limited to Kano State, but the spread was also felt in many states in Northern Nigeria. There were 21,739 cases of meningitis and about 1,000 deaths, with the Infectious Disease Hospital in Kano reporting 6,133 cases and mortality of 247. The situation had overwhelmed the state government, making it necessary to seek assistance from the federal government and international agencies. Pfizer, due to the experience they had gathered from the 1985 outbreak of the same epidemic in Kano State, had responded to the State government distress call and requested to participate in the treatment of patients. With the granting of the request by the state government, The NAFDA legally granted Pfizer the authority to import the drug Trovan into the country for trial study. From the above indication, it seems to me that the intention of Pfizer in volunteering their help was to provide a more effective treatment for meningitis over currently available treatments.
articleadslinks
We were all happy that Pfizer had decided to settle out of court and appointment of credible Nigerians, as suggested by well meaning Nigerians, to serve in the committee to disburse the $35 million dollars earmarked for the victims. The problem, as we all know is that there are Nigerians who do not believe that the actual victims are not born to enjoy the due compensation they are entitled to. This is the reason for the introduction of the DNA. But like all things Nigerian, we are taking the committee members to cleaners with spurious accusations. What is wrong with the board having a befitting office and cars to do their business? Out of a settlement of about $75 million, according to the accusation, the board got $4.5 million for the purchase of secretariat building, furniture, cars and other basic accessories required for them to achieve the desired objectives. It is important to note, according Onwubiko that the $4.5 million was not part of the $35 million compensation for the victims.
My advice to people like Onwubiko is to help with the acceleration of payment of compensation to the right victims. This, he could do by helping to expose those Nigerians who are raising spurious claims and playing the middlemen to defraud the actual victims. Kano people know these people but it not easy to expose such people. The board that is appointed is not doing Pfizer’s job. Their job is to find best way of disbursing the compensations to the right people. This is not easy in a place like Nigeria, when the vultures know that the dollar is on ground for payment to poor Nigerian victims. The board members are well meaning Nigerians and we should encourage them to do their job without fear or favour. We should also remember that we do not have the DNA facilities in the country to process more than 200 people within a short period of time.
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