You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
18 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2022<br />
THE leadership and members of the<br />
Medical and Dental Consultants of<br />
Nigeria, MDCAN, deserve a pat on<br />
the head for voluntarily opting out of<br />
the last eight-months strike of the<br />
Academic Staff Union of Universities,<br />
ASUU.<br />
The ASUU strike grounded academic<br />
activities in most university campuses Resident Doctors through the teething<br />
over the Federal Government’s failure stages of their professional<br />
to fulfill its signed Memorandum of development.<br />
Action, MOA, particularly with regard Should such an important<br />
to the infrastructural revitalisation of component of our tertiary education<br />
our universities, addressing the poor workforce down tools, it will probably<br />
pay structure of university lecturers, be too much for the system to cope.<br />
resolving the vexed issue of a People whose primary responsibility<br />
foolproof payroll system and other is to save lives should never be pushed<br />
issues.<br />
to the point of embarking on strike.<br />
The MDCAN is an association of The Federal Government’s<br />
senior medical doctors who are unwillingness over the decades to<br />
primarily responsible for the training solve the ASUU imbroglio once and<br />
of our young doctors. They also form for all after signing a series of<br />
the backbone of medical specialists undertakings to do so, is enough to<br />
who save lives at the various university frustrate even the most patriotic and<br />
teaching hospitals, and pace the humane worker. But MDCAN chose<br />
Kudos to MDCAN over ASUU strikes<br />
to stay back and continue their good<br />
work.<br />
With that, the academic calendar of<br />
the medical institutions in our public<br />
sector universities continued to run<br />
seamlessly. If otherwise had been the<br />
case, we would have risked the failure<br />
to turn out a new set of medical<br />
doctors for one academic session. That<br />
would have hit us from both ends,<br />
given the large number of our medical<br />
and health sector workers who<br />
migrate for greener pastures abroad<br />
every year.<br />
The sacrifice of the MDCAN can only<br />
be appreciated further when we look<br />
at the gloomy and worsening picture<br />
of inadequacy in the doctor to citizen<br />
ratio in Nigeria, especially under the<br />
regime of President Muhammadu<br />
Buhari. In 2015, Nigeria had only<br />
about 34,000 medical doctors serving<br />
about 190 million people.<br />
Today, rather than increasing, the<br />
number has dropped to estimated<br />
24,000. Out of these, 1,307 Nigeriantrained<br />
doctors were licenced by the<br />
British medical authorities over the<br />
past one year alone. Meanwhile, the<br />
Nigerian Medical Association, NMA,<br />
says Nigeria needs 237,000 doctors to<br />
serve over 200 million people. But<br />
because of the poor handling of the<br />
health sector by our political elite, less<br />
than half of doctors trained in Nigeria<br />
remain to serve their country.<br />
We hope our next crop of leaders<br />
will attach the needed premium to<br />
fostering a better health system, rather<br />
than the practice of abandoning the<br />
people to their fate while getting<br />
treated abroad at public expense.<br />
The author in this fourth and concluding<br />
piece, continues with the discourse on states<br />
creation and concludes that states and even<br />
local government creation exercises were<br />
biased and lopsided. The third instalment<br />
was published last week.<br />
WHAT is more, the ill-fated Federal<br />
structure which rested on a theory of<br />
regional security and autonomy, as well as<br />
the socio-economic imbalance in the political<br />
system prevented the emergence of a broadlybased<br />
political consensus and clearly<br />
perceived national objectives. Consequently<br />
the issue of state creation became a nagging<br />
problem that plagued this nation from its very<br />
inception. s<br />
The movement for the creation of states in<br />
Nigeria can be traced back to 1937 when Dr.<br />
Nnamdi Azikiwe, GCFR (November 16, 1904<br />
– May 11, 1996), advocated in his book The<br />
Political Blueprint of Nigeria, a Federal<br />
form of government for the country and the<br />
division of the country into eight constituent<br />
units based on geographical configuration.<br />
Dr. Azikiwe was later joined by Chief<br />
Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo, GCFR<br />
(March 6, 1909-May 9, 1987) who, in a book,<br />
Path To Nigeria Freedom published in<br />
1947, proposed a redivision of Nigeria into<br />
ten federating units with ethnic, linguistic and<br />
cultural affinity as the basis of division.<br />
However, Chief Awolowo writing in 1966<br />
seemed to have modified his stand when he<br />
shifted ground and advocated a redivision of<br />
OPINION<br />
Anioma: The bias and imbalance in<br />
creation of states (4)<br />
the country into eighteen states - nine in the<br />
North and nine in the South based on linguistic<br />
and cultural affinity as well as economic<br />
viability of states in the Federation.<br />
However on May 1, 1967, at a meeting of<br />
Western Region Leaders of thought at Ibadan,<br />
the same Chief Obafemi Awolowo advocated<br />
the creation of COR state - to be made of<br />
Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers state. “There is<br />
urgent need for the creation of COR state by<br />
decree which will be backed if need be by the<br />
means of force”.<br />
Increased agitation by various minority<br />
ethnic groups for their own states in which<br />
they would feel safe from domination by the<br />
ethnic groups prompted the British<br />
Government in September 1957 to appoint<br />
the Minorities Commission, with Sir Henry<br />
Willink as Chairman to - ascertain facts about<br />
minorities in Nigeria and propose means of<br />
allaying the fears, advise what safeguards<br />
could be provided in the Constitution,<br />
The present thirty-six states<br />
structure in Nigeria is biased and<br />
partial.; even the present 774 local<br />
government structure is worse, as<br />
it is prejudiced or lopsided<br />
recommend, though only as last resort, the<br />
creation of states specifying the areas to be<br />
included in such States evaluating their<br />
economic and administrative viability and<br />
Send Opinions & Letters to:<br />
opinions1234@yahoo.com<br />
ascertaining what effect the creation of New<br />
States would have on existing States and on<br />
the Federation and examine the question of<br />
revising the boundaries of existing Region.<br />
The exercise for the creation of states was<br />
first carried out by General Yakubu Gowon on<br />
May 5, 1967 when he created twelve states<br />
out of the four regions we had then, namely<br />
Western Region, Eastern Region, Mid-Western<br />
Region and Northern Region.<br />
He created North Western state, North<br />
Eastern state, Kano state, North Central state,<br />
Benue/Plateau state, Kwara state, Western state,<br />
Lagos state and Mid Western state.<br />
On February 3, 1976, General Murtala<br />
Ramat Muhammed (November 8, 1938-<br />
February 13, 1976) created additional seven<br />
states to make it nineteen states. They are<br />
Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Imo, Niger, Ogun and<br />
Ondo states. In effect only four military rulers<br />
have created states in Nigeria, namely<br />
General Yakubu Gowon (88), General Murtala<br />
Muhammed (November 8, 1938-February 13,<br />
1976), General Ibrahim Babangida (81) and<br />
General Sani Abacha (September 20, 1943-<br />
June 8,1998).<br />
I do not know whether new states will be<br />
created with the provisions as contained in<br />
the Constitution. The present thirty-six states<br />
structure in Nigeria is biased and partial. Even<br />
the present 774 local government structure is<br />
worse. It is prejudiced. Lopsidedness is a better<br />
word. Concluded