I never met Dimgba Igwe, but in many ways, I met him through his work. His patriotism shone through his writings with an undiminishing love for country. Tributes have been pouring in from all over the world extolling his virtues and his contribution to nation building.
However, the real matter we should be addressing by his death ought to be matters of weightier importance, the state of security and the state of healthcare in our country. After 54 years of independence, our country should not be like this. Accounts have it that Dimgba was knocked down by a vehicle while he was jogging in his neighborhood. Thereafter, the good Samaritans who tried to help took him round several hospitals seeking help for four agonizing hours until he succumbed to the cold hands of death. Nigeria is not working for anyone right now. It is not working for the newborn child. His chances of survival before he gets to the age of 5 are some of the lowest in the world at 15% infant mortality rate. Nigeria is not working for women at child birth at another 15% maternal mortality rate. Nigeria is not working for young men and women who want to enter higher institutions. 1.6 million students write JAMB every year but only about 400,000 can be admitted into schools. Nigeria is not working for young men and women who graduate from the NYSC program every year seeking employment at over 95% unemployment rate. Nigeria is not working for the old as their lifespan is truncated at age 48 which is currently the life expectancy of the average Nigerian. Nigeria is not working for businesses as electricity has not improved in 15 years of democratic history and one party in government. Nigeria is not working for Teachers, Doctors, the Policemen and women and our Army which used to be the pride of Africa. Nigeria stopped working a long time ago. Every man and woman in Nigeria has taken their destiny in their own hands, hence the common expression----You are on your own.
Dimgba was on his own on the day of his accident. You and I will be on our own on the day of our own emergencies which will come however it will come and whenever and wherever it chooses to come. For Chief Sunday Awoniyi, it was on a highway. For General Adisa, it was on a highway. For Agbazika Innih, it was on a highway. For my great cousin, George Enenmoh, it was on a plane crash. For my niece Moji and her unborn baby, it was in a hospital in Ikeja where a doctor did not show up for six hours and her mother watched her die as she sat there helplessly. For my father in 1983, it was 3 hours away from the accident scene in far away Anambra. My father had been involved in an accident on his way to Benin at Ugbogui, 45 km from Benin. All the victims who were still alive had been rushed to a hospital in Benin but Doctors were on strike. The victims were then taken three hours away to Anambra by which time they were all dead.
Interestingly, Nigeria was not always like this. It used to work. In 1967, I had a domestic accident at about midnight when I hit my head against the edge of an iron bed. There was blood everywhere. My father took me to the General hospital in Benin where I received prompt attention.
I was stitched up and I went back to school the next day. I have the scar to show for it. In today’s Nigeria, how much chance does that child have? His parents would be asked to first drop a huge deposit, three times their minimum wage, go out to buy needles and bandages and probably be asked to go and train the doctor that would attend to that child. This is why I weep for Nigeria and I weep for the family of Dimbga Igwe. The bell has tolled for him. For whom will the bell toll next?
Do we have to continue like this? Just a few weeks ago, we read in the papers how our President went to Germany for medical check-up. A few years ago, our President died in a Saudi Hospital where he had gone to seek treatment. A few years earlier, a sitting President’s wife died in a Spanish hospital while an ex military President’s wife, a most beautiful and most beloved woman died in an American hospital. Our dear Dora Akinyuli died in an Indian hospital.
Over 5,000 Nigerian doctors practice in the UK and about 8,000 in the US. Many of them do not like to live abroad. Given the opportunity, they would come home but to what? Horrible road networks, no railways, poor skies, terrible schools for their children, abuse by men and women in uniform, corruption, etc? We need to fix our country and we can fix it. We are too rich and too smart to be so poor and so mismanaged. Leadership must change its ways or we must find a way to change leadership. The chance comes up every four years. Do you plan to exercise that power in 2015? I encourage you to do so!!. The INEC chairman is doing a lot of work to plug the holes to rigging. Voting in 2015 will be semi-electronic. Ballot cards and ballot boxes will be serialized. The voters register has been cleaned up and ghost names have been removed. Over 20 million ghost names have been cleaned out. Now, you have the chance to elect a new leader if you are not happy with the way things are. Can we get a leader who is a leader of all Nigerians irrespective of religion and geography? Can we get a leader who understands the issues happening around the world and in Nigeria? Can we get a leader who has zero tolerance for corruption and is willing to lay down his life to fight the evil monster? Can we get a leader who has the guts to fix electricity and the petroleum industry by total deregulation of both industries? Can we get a leader who will make us proud again and secure our people internally and secure our borders? Can we elect a leader of whom we can all be proud?
These are the choices that confront us as 2015 is upon us. They will bring quarter bags of rice and cash to you---please take it but vote for your future. Speak to yourself and speak to the future of your children and then you will summon the words to say to them---Our fathers served your fathers. We are serving you. Our children will not serve your children. Register to vote and take your friends with you. That is how we will win the ground game-----this time. Dimgba Igwe and many unknown people like him die needlessly every day in Nigeria for lack of prompt help. The key word here is lack of quick or prompt help. What will it cost our nation to have a nationwide emergency 911 system that works for everyone? God bless you and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Michael Ovienmhada is a Presidential Aspirant of the Citizens Popular Party (CPP)