Made in China

By Mike Kebonkwu

Covid-19 has taken the world by storm spreading like wild fire causing panic and fear while advanced medicines in developed countries have not proved of much use.  We are told that there is no known cure for now and no vaccine for corona virus.

In another breath, we are told that there are some combination therapies for it and many patients have recovered after management.

Countries are taking extreme measures of lockdown trying to contain the spread which also has resulted into existential economic hardship on the very  who eke out a living on daily basis; the artisans, petty traders and the informal sector that comprise a huge chunk of our population.

In the face of this challenging moment, our healthcare providers as usual have displayed remarkable commitment and patriotism even at the risk of their personal safety in the frontline without adequate protective kits to work with.

We recall the Ebola outbreak and the exemplary courage and patriotism displayed by Dr Stella Adadevoh and her team, (may her soul rest in peace); that is the same way our healthcare professionals have embraced this plague.

During the Ebola outbreak, our healthcare practitioners became the cynosure of the entire world that wanted to know how they were able to swiftly manage it within such a short period of time.

At the outbreak of Covid-19, countries and foresighted leaders closed their borders to stem the spread while our government waited until the index case was recorded.  Co-incidentally like the Ebola, it started in Lagos State reputed with elegant and robust reaction to any emergency situation different from the lethargy of the government at the centre.

As the numbers increased and the virus spread, our healthcare workers have risen stoutly to the occasion and are showing remarkable aplomb in dealing with it.

In the face of the sacrifice from our doctors and nurses, the government in a panic mode because of the huge neglect our healthcare system and research institutes have suffered did not trust that our healthcare providers are equal to the task in dealing with the situation because they are already used to consultations and treatment in Europe, America and Asia for their medical needs.

Suddenly, without proper consultation and thinking through the consequences, the federal government went shopping for Chinese doctors and nurses according to them to assist Nigerian healthcare providers to fight the corona plague.

The government would not listen to any protest or opposition to the Chinese medical team whatever it is worth because they are so fixated and obsessed for foreign taste on all things. This is a great disincentive to our redoubtable healthcare providers and the sacrifice they have made with very low motivation and low incentive from government.

Read Also: Maltreatment of Nigerians in China resolved- Gbajabiamila

Our elites have been caught in the web of the huge neglect of our healthcare delivery system and to satisfy their rapacious appetite and taste for anything foreign, the Chinese must be seen around before they are sure something is being done.

Our leaders want everything foreign; they want long grain rice from America, they want to patronize only hospitals in Britain, India, China and America.  It would amaze you and it is true, some of them import sand and cement from Europe to build their houses and they pride themselves over that; what a wasteful class.

Now everyone is screwed and nobody can travel out and so, we must import Chinese who are themselves battling with the same scourge with worse fatality than Nigeria.  We do not hate the Chinese but my problem is that there is no quality control and standard for made in China goods that are dumped in our market.

The Chinese have taken over the entire landscape of our construction and mining industries and venturing into grocery shops but I wish to God that we do not auction our healthcare delivery system to them by our mentally indolent political elite.  We should resist Nigeria being used as pun on the diplomatic Chess board of international politics by the APC-led government.

It was shocking to hear from the chairperson of the Presidential Committee on Covid-19, Boss Mustapha that he was perplexed at the level of decay of our healthcare system. It exposed the brigandage of our leaders who appropriate yearly budgetary allocation to the health sector without evidence of the use of the money.

We may never get to know the difference that the 18 or so Chinese medics are going to make but one thing is clear, it certainly will diminish the effort of our healthcare professionals and the sacrifices they have made.

Whatever good the Chinese may be doing, it is time for us to depend less on foreigners who can never like us more than our own people.

We should build our infrastructure as well as fund our research institutions rather waste our commonwealth on already made goods which most of the time are cheap but substandard like medical stores and electric and electronic materials from the same China.

We should fund our educational institutions and maintain public infrastructure like Cuba has done; small though but outstanding in healthcare delivery with reputation across the globe.

Moving forward, we have to change this mentality for foreign taste.  We should build our healthcare industry, equip our hospitals and build capacity of our doctors and nurses.  We should build and equip our research institutions and fund our universities instead of neglecting and killing our public schools and educational system because we can afford to send our children abroad; even to Cotonou, Benin Republic; that is how bad it is.

At the end of the day, these foreign educated Nigerians return only as administrators and portfolio scientists and engineers.  They are never going to be in the factory or on the field supervising projects and constructing roads and bridges.

We should be honest enough to ask ourselves how China got to where she is today.  She did not settle for the dumping of everything on her soil and preference of foreign taste.  Covid-19 has taught our leaders a bitter lesson even though they remain in the main, in-educable that you cannot depend on foreign aids all the time.

Now we all have to fall back on the decrepit and obsolete equipment in our hospitals and all of us will stay here and probably die in this country for our failures, acts and omissions.

Now the containment strategy of the government is bringing unintended results without mitigating effect.  People are on lockdown, no proper window to replenish on exhausted stocks of essentials like water, food etc. as government agents are harassing and extorting the same people for violating the lockdown by the government.  How much food can people store at home and what is the storage capacity when there is no electricity?

At least, Covid-19 has diverted our attention from insurgency in the Northeast and banditry across the country which are as costly as the scourge of corona virus or more.  Let us for once be reasonable about solutions we proffer and not import everything from outside lock-stock-and-barrel.

• Kebonkwu Esq writes from Abuja.