₦airaland Forum

Welcome, Guest: RegisterLoginWith GoogleTrendingRecentNew

Stats: 3,330,945 members, 8,447,848 topics. Date: Sunday, 19 July 2026 at 07:23 AM

Toggle theme

State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian - Business (2) - Nairaland

Nairaland ForumNairaland GeneralBusinessState House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian (12128 Views)

1 2 Reply (Go Down)

Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by Litmus: 6:59pm On Oct 29, 2017
And if anybody questions how they made their money, the immediate response from most people is: "Is it your business?? Go and hustle your own money".
This is a good attitude.
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by NezoLee19: 7:03pm On Oct 29, 2017
A society where material things are priortized and celebrated above all else, this is what happens.

Everyone focuses on material things and we lose our honesty just to show each other that"I have arrived"
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by Litmus:
Those people in the West that developed antibiotics knew that it could lead to the end of Mankind but this did not stop them. This was Capitalism talking, Nigerians don't know the meaning of materialism.
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by talk2percy(m): 7:24pm On Oct 29, 2017
chibabe259:
Women should wake up to wrestle power from these men that can't perform on and off the bed.
U say wetin?? Come out fully and proudly too, then say it, why are u hiding while saying it?? Can u imaginehuh??
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by 4gunners(m): 7:29pm On Oct 29, 2017
The more I try to understand the problem with this country Nigeria, the more I get confused. We followers are just mirror of our leaders. Who will now pilot the affairs of this country on a better route.
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by M3A16(m): 7:31pm On Oct 29, 2017
There has always been a solution around that what we see, perceive or come to us as a problem...We have had as much as four or thereabout wives of head of the state since this present democracy returned in this country and none among them has ever spoke truth to power that be, handled by their various husbands except this aishat and obviously not that this mouth watering condition of this clinic and the rots in the corridor of power are just came to being..It is the people with great mind that this country needs and things will surely take permanent and good shape with the help almighty though...................
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by ReubenE(m): 8:01pm On Oct 29, 2017
sarutobie:
Or when you question such wealth without legit source they will call you a ‘hater’....see ehn, a bad seed cannot produce good fruits, likewise a lawless people cannot produce good governance, it is not rocket science..the people voted into Power cannot give what they don’t have because they are a product of a lawless and greed infested people...i laugh when I see hypocrites and naive people here on nairaland and other social media outlets wailing that their ‘leaders have failed them’...NO the Nigerian people have failed themselves...the leaders did not come from mars, they came out of the Nigerian populace!
Thank you for the above.
Your position is exactly what the Positivists said. Bad laws are only found in a bad society, likewise bad leadership is a product of bad society
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by Nobody: 8:26pm On Oct 29, 2017
Front page Lalastiscala
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by Nobody: 8:27pm On Oct 29, 2017
KidsNEXTdoor:
Buhari came to steal... Loot and use taxpayers money to gallivant round the world
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by wilbow2k3(m): 8:57pm On Oct 29, 2017
chibabe259:
Women should wake up to wrestle power from these men that can't perform on and off the bed.
Like the way Dezieni wrestled power and bleep us from behind
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by DonX001: 10:30pm On Oct 29, 2017
sarutobie:
Or when you question such wealth without legit source they will call you a ‘hater’....see ehn, a bad seed cannot produce good fruits, likewise a lawless people cannot produce good governance, it is not rocket science..the people voted into Power cannot give what they don’t have because they are a product of a lawless and greed infested people...i laugh when I see hypocrites and naive people here on nairaland and other social media outlets wailing that their ‘leaders have failed them’...NO the Nigerian people have failed themselves...the leaders did not come from mars, they came out of the Nigerian populace!
Exactly!!
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by DonX001: 10:31pm On Oct 29, 2017
InvertedHammer:
Isn't it the same thing I said in the thread "Lies...Nigerians in America". The OP sees life through money in the bank and mansions. They steal the country blind forgetting that a direct flight from Nigeria to UK is at least 5hrs. In time of emergency, billions in the bank cannot save them. Perhaps they think they are doing favour to others by equipping and stocking the clinic.
It is about the psyche of Nigerians. Some folks are talking about the age in governance. It is not by age; it is a culture of nonchalance and indifference. How old is Kogi State governor? How is he doing? How old was Bankole? How did he do. We celebrate evil. That's all.

\
Gbam!!
You've said it all.
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by DonX001: 10:34pm On Oct 29, 2017
tolexy007:
God bless u bro, you have said it all. I remember a time when one SUG president said he bought a Bus at 3million, A bus that can not worth 200k. imagine the kind of that person will b if he eventually bcom a senator or Governor or even occupy a gov post... The seed of corruption has been sown into this country, and was sown into the hearts of we so called youth. I don't think it can be remove again...
That is the classic average Nigerian mindset. Steal anything you can at any level you are. Its called being sharp.
Its just tiresome.
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by Nobody: 11:26pm On Oct 29, 2017
HungerBAD:
By Editorial Board

That, as Mrs. Aisha Buhari noted, “there are a lot of constructions going on in this [State House Clinic] but there” is no single syringe there’ is indeed a metaphor for the Nigerian condition. Indeed, those who should know have reportedly complained on the social media of the non-availability of even analgesic drugs in the clinic. And this is the tragic story of a country that suffers from prolonged leadership failure, from a combination of elite rapacity and unenlightened self-interest, and of a people nonplussed by the mental and behavioral illogicality of persons in authority.

Like every person who is ‘good in reasoning’, Mrs. Buhari cannot but wonder by what stretch of imagination the medical facility reserved for the president, his family, staff and appropriately entitled persons would be in lack of the most basic items to treat the most ordinary of ailments. As commonsense–defying as it is hard to fathom, the lack of syringe and a functional X-ray machine in this clinic is at many levels of meaning a symptom of the Nigerian condition.

The condition of Nigeria is characterized by misplaced priorities, such as to expend the scarce funds available to a hospital on buildings without drugs and equipment to treat the sick. Nigeria’s condition is characterized by an overarching attitude of ‘me-only, the rest be damned’ such that the most important item on any agenda is that which yields immediate and maximum gratification to the person. It is also characteristic of the Nigerian condition that, in the words of Jalal Arabi, permanent secretary in the State House, ‘the [State House clinic] is the only health center in Abuja where patients (who by the way, can comfortably afford to) are not required to pay any dime before consultation’.


Nigeria’s condition is characterized by abject want amidst plenty, such as, on the one hand, importation of – and occasional shortage – of petroleum products in a country that exports crude oil in millions of barrels a day, and on the other hand, importation of toothpick, matches, and basic food items despite the availability of nearly a million square kilometers of land to grow what it needs. Nigeria’s condition is characterized by a terrible lack of a sense of shame by the leadership and the elite class, as well as docility of the followership. This explains why the leaders would not think it an aberration to seek direction from foreign lands on how to run their country, or seek medical treatment abroad, educate their children in strange lands and cultures, and advertise such in the media. Yet, they would do nothing to improve the medical and educational facilities put in their charge. It is also characteristic of the Nigerian condition that written promises, such as a party manifesto, are made to the electorate at campaign time only for the political leadership to manufacture excuses for reneging.

In truth, the condition of Nigeria is the self-inflicted tragedy of a nation not prepared to engage in hard thinking, to introspect dispassionately and speak hard truths to itself, to muster courage to re-direct itself and do, brutally, what it’s got to do for development and progress.

It had to take a person of Aisha’s stature, as the wife of the president, to speak up on the embarrassing condition of the State House Medical Centre (SHMC). But the point must be made that, she is not the first wife of a head of state to reside in Aso Rock; it is an indication of the quality of her person to inquire at all into the matter, or to publicly comment on and demand a change of ways. This is leadership with the courage and a sense of responsibility to do the right things and do things right.


Presidency officials have sought to justify the disgraceful condition of the SHMC. Jalal Arabi said that N1.195 billion or only 32.97 per cent of the sum appropriated for the clinic was given to it in 2015-2017. President’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu offered that the clinic ‘looks after government officials and many more others who are not’. Arabi reportedly said that, indeed, the center provides free medical services to political appointees, the military, paramilitary, other security agencies, members of the National Assembly, and the general public. He concluded that ‘considering the unrestricted patronage base, and [the] free services…, coupled with the funding hiccups and periodic receipts, it may not be farfetched to notice gaps between demand and supply of medical equipment and consumables at certain stages of the budget cycle’. ‘Funding hiccups’ is said to have been reported in writing at different times to President Buhari and other presidency officials by the director of the centre Hussain Munir. Obviously with little success. Arabi has more or less threatened to commercialize the clinic. If that is rationally defensible let it be so. It a shame on the leader of a nation though that he cannot receive excellent treatment just as well as the average citizen in the local hospital.

Before permanent secretary Arabi carries out his plan, however, he and Munir need to answer three questions. Why would a medical facility located in the security – sensitive State House be open to just about every one able to find his or her way there? Why would a centre patronized by top and well remunerated public officials, their relations, and hangers-on ‘offer free services [and] nobody pays a kobo for hospital card, consultation, and prescription…’? Why would the erection of buildings take precedence over the more immediately useful supply of drugs, syringes, X-ray machines? And, with the ‘little’ funds released to run the SHMC, how judiciously has it been applied to enable the clinic discharge its specific function of treating patients?

Mrs. Buhari demanded that regardless of the amount received to run the clinic, ‘we need to know how it is spent’ In a Buhari-led government that promised change to accountability, it bears repeating: the wife of the president must not speak in vain.

http://guardian.ng/opinion/state-house-clinic-as-metaphor-for-nigerias-condition/
I know the medical director of the hospital , who is also Chief physician to president buhari. This man always complains of low funding . Amazingly, the facility isn't up to half the size of a general Hospital in lagos. As a matter of fact, some private hospitals are bigger than the place yet, 3bn voted as annual budget to buy equipment and consumables couldn't be accounted for. I wonder why they had to be erecting a building when the existing one has nor been equipped. I see that arrangement as an avenue to embezzle because those who visit the hospital are less than 30 a day. The idea of commercialising the place must have been put together to justify the high level of fraud that took place in the facility because the purpose for which it was set up was not to make profit.
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by Nobody: 7:28am On Oct 30, 2017
chibabe259:
Women should wake up to wrestle power from these men that can't perform on and off the bed.
African women no matter the level of their education cannot do well in African politics,the system is rigged and also our culture hinders alot,what good ever came from Patricia eteh,diezani,okonjo iwuala,adeosun,madam bullet proof bmw etc who have all held sensitive positions in nigeria
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by chibabe259(f): 9:01am On Oct 30, 2017
fabiano09:
African women no matter the level of their education cannot do well in African politics,the system is rigged and also our culture hinders alot,what good ever came from Patricia eteh,diezani,okonjo iwuala,adeosun,madam bullet proof bmw etc who have all held sensitive positions in nigeria
Who among your male leaders has done better than those ladies you mentioned?.
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by Nobody: 9:35am On Oct 30, 2017
chibabe259:
Who among your male leaders has done better than those ladies you mentioned?.
none,in fact from 1960 till date all our leaders have been like cankerworms on our flesh, see sister you miss the point I was trying to pass across, let me break it down,Nigerian men who have every cultural and political freedom to perform better have been unable to do so for over 50 years,alternating between the tyranny of military government and clueless democracy,how much more the women. To be candid IMHO women still have about a 100 years to come to par with the cunning and evil genius,and unbridled chauvinism of the average naija man,and when they do,I believe they will be 10 times worst.
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by chibabe259(f): 9:40am On Oct 30, 2017
fabiano09:
none,in fact from 1960 till date all our leaders have been like cankerworms on our flesh, see sister you miss the point I was trying to pass across, let me break it down,Nigerian men who have every cultural and political freedom to perform better have been unable to do so for over 50 years,alternating between the tyranny of military government and clueless democracy,how much more the women. To be candid IMHO women still have about a 100 years to come to par with the cunning and evil genius,and unbridled chauvinism of the average naija man,and when they do,



I believe they will be 10 times worst.
I disagree with you on this.
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by Nobody: 2:30pm On Oct 30, 2017
chibabe259:
I disagree with you on this.
I expected nothing less. Selah
Re: State House Clinic as metaphor for Nigeria’s condition- The Guardian by Nobody: 2:30pm On Oct 30, 2017
chibabe259:
I disagree with you on this.
I expected nothing less. Selah
1 2 Reply

How Buhari's Victory Will Affect The Oil And Gas, Economy Sectors - The GuardianUK Guardian:oil Price Plummets To Low Not Seen Since October 2017The Guardian Newspaper Bags Nimes Award After Nira, Nioma Honours234

See Two Sure Ways To Earn Income Online Without Spending Much MoneyEconomy Bleeds As CBN Pursues Elusive Naira StabilityPaid Employment Or Running Self Business