A former Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, has taken a swipe on political leaders who play to the galleries instead of impacting on the lives of the people.
The former Minister, therefore, urged politicians to invest in human capital development such as education and healthcare as much as they build flyovers, roads, hospitals, and bridges.
Adewole, who was also a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, made this disclosure as a guest on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, on Friday. The socio-political programme was aired on Channels Television.
Speaking during the programme, the former minister lamented that there has been “undue emphasis on infrastructure” without commensurate human capital development.
According to him, politicians build flyovers for exhibitionism. Because they want to have something to show to the people at the end of their tenure.
The former Minister stressed that is not what is needed to develop Nigeria. “Investment in infrastructure must not be at the expense of investment in education and efficient healthcare delivery,” he said.
“The concept of investing in infrastructure is a critical strategy. The politicians who plan for four years, or eight years, do so because they want to show something off.
“A political leader will rather invest in flyovers than invest in education and health. They want to build new schools, new universities that have no teachers. They will build new facilities called hospitals without human resources (doctors and nurses), without drugs, without laboratories.
“We just want people to say during my tenure, I put that up, I constructed 200km of roads. I built a flyover from Kano to Kaduna. That’s what politicians want to show off. But that is not what we need to develop our country.
“I am not saying we should not invest in infrastructure but let us be balanced,” he said.
He, however, clarified that good infrastructure such as roads and flyovers is pivotal to trade facilitation and economic growth.
Recall that Adewole served as Nigeria Minister of Health during the first term of President Mohammadu Buhari’s administration.
The former Minister posited that investment in education eliminates some health challenges such as maternal mortality.
He said, “When you invest in agriculture, the return is either zero, minus, or at best $1 to $3. But when you invest $1 in immunization, you can reap between $18 and $44. When you invest $1 in anti-tuberculosis-control programmes, you can reap as much as $70. When you invest in education, for God’s sake, you are eliminating so many things.
“I was looking at the maternal mortality rates a few days ago with a colleague. And we realized that when you are educated, at least secondary school education, the maternal mortality, that is the number of women who die in pregnancy, labour, and thereafter, is at least 10 times lower than those who are not educated.
“When you educate the people, you invest in human capital development. And this multi-dimensional poverty we are talking about will disappear.”
The former Minister stated that his greatest frustration was how to get State Governors to invest in efficient healthcare delivery.
“Even in some States, what they do is to set up Teaching Hospitals and compete with the Federal. Which to me is a waste of resources,” he said.
“State Governments do not need to compete with the Federal Government. They should go to the district level and establish functional hospitals with efficient and well-motivated workers.
On the devolution of power in the country, Adewole, urged Governors to allow the Local Councils to function as an independent tier of government.
“I am an apostle of fiscal and physical federalism. Though it was late for a return to regionalism, States should be allowed to grow on their own. Especially in the areas of power generation, just like Abia State,” he stressed.
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