Some medical practitioners have decried the level of hardships and high cost of living in the land, calling on Nigerian leaders to intensify efforts to address the situation and stabilise the harsh economy.
The experts made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Monday in Lagos, while proposing areas of improvement during their appraisal of President Bola Tinubu’s one year in office.
A Medical Imaging Scientist, Dr Livinus Abonyi, said that leaders of governments at all levels in Nigeria need to win the trust of citizens through their actions and not talks.
Abonyi is also the Head, Department of Medical Radiography, Faculty of Clinical Sciences at the University of Lagos, College of Medicine.
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He said that most political leaders in Nigeria were disconnected with the led, such that government policies were antithetical to the welfare of citizens.
He said that leaders should be patriotic and lead by example, saying that deceit should cease to be the stock in trade of Nigeria leadership, as it weakens patriotism and promote disloyalty.
According to him, Nigerians do not trust their leaders due to serial disappointments and betrayals.
“The needs of the citizens appear to be at variance with that of government. This has created a wide gap in the general acceptance of government policies and programmes.
“These adverse characteristics of leadership invoke disloyalty, lack of trust or patriotism to the Nigerian state.
“Leaders should be transparently exemplary in all their dealings, thereby, leading by example.
“Government at all levels should address the issue of trust deficit. The current investment in infrastructure is not more important than in investing in the mindset of Nigerians.
“Corruption in government should be fought to a stand still,” he said.
Abonyi, therefore, called on the Federal Government to tackle all of forms of poverty and hunger with greater vigour, in order to reduce the burden of ill health in the country.
He said that poverty contributes to ill health, which in turn aggravates the level of hardship.
According to him, such a trend ends up having adverse effects on the country’s health indices.
“It is now approximately one year from the last inauguration and a very germane question to ask is ‘how far, so far’?
“The cost of living is so high with prices of goods and services particularly drugs skyrocketed out of the reach of an average Nigerian.
“Nigerians are suffering and end is not in sight.
“The adverse effects of the current Nigerian government policies are excruciatingly painful to the citizens. Life is becoming more unbearable for the citizens.
“A good example is the strangulation of civil servants with obsolete minimum wage of over several years ago when a 50kg bag of rice was N7,500.00 compared to the time when same bag of rice is going for N75,000.00.
“Should a responsive leadership continue to dribble her citizens without coming up with a reasonable wage that may assuage the suffering of the workers?” he asked.
Abonyi, emphasised the need for transparency of governance and involvement of experts to professionally prescribe solutions to the nation’s problems and harsh economy.
The Scientist said there was severe infestation of government policies, programmes and projects by conflict of interests.
“Any country that does not freely engage the best of experts in finding solution or execution of daunting projects for the good of her citizens will continue to wobble and fumble. Nigeria belong to this group.
“The experts should be hired to professionally prescribe solutions to our problems.
“And the key sectors, such as education, health, security, economy and food production must be addressed squarely to restore the Nigerian State,” Abonyi said.
Dr Taiwo Obindo, President, Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN), urged the government to do everything possible to address the insecurity challenge of the country.
Obindo, also a Consultant Psychiatrist, described terrorism and banditry as the threatening factors to achieving food security in the country.
According to him, there is no justification for government’s intervention in form of loan, fertiliser provision or inputs of any kind into agriculture when security of life and properties of those that would work on the farms cannot be assured.
He lamented that the high cost of transportation was contributory to the hike in the prices of food commodities across the country and worsening the already harsh economy.
The psychiatrist noted that the solution to the hunger and other challenges in the land depended on restoring security of the country.
“Security has to be ensured for the economy to thrive.
“Food production is a key component of the economy.
“The cost of transportation is currently a factor in the movement of goods and services in Nigeria.
“It, therefore, implies that movement of farm produce where farmers have weathered the storm to farm, against the threat of terrorists, kidnappers and bandits, has become a debilitating challenge,” he said.
