Prof. Opeoluwa Adekunle, a recipient of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), comes with an intimidating resume that has seen him traverse the world practising his calling: Medicine. A retired Professor of Surgery at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and former Chief Medical Director of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), the octogenarian, who was also formerly a World Health Organisation (WHO) Adviser to the South African government, in this interview with Remi Adelowo, provides fresh insights into the recent xenophobic attacks in the former apartheid enclave and the way out.
Would you tell us how your relationship with South Africa began?
It all started shortly after 1976, during the uprising after Steve Biko was killed. And you know Steve Biko was a medical student and the medical community was outraged. And at that time, I was very active in the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA). In fact, I was the Secretary of the Western State branch of NMA. We, together with the other state branches decided to protest against the murder of Steve Biko. We had a military government at that time that supported our action, and as you know at that time, Africa was the centerpiece of the country’s foreign policy. So, we started to make contact with the black doctors in South Africa and we formed an association, though there was an existing association of World Medical Association at the time of which South Africa was a member. And of course, NMA was also a member with other African countries including Ghana, Kenya and Egypt. And therefore, we decided to form an African group known as the African Region of the World Medical Association and I was elected that day as Head of the region. I started thus started attending meetings in different parts of the world to represent Africa. Initially we had a lot of resistance, especially from Western countries, because South Africa was also a member of the WMA; so they did not welcome me because it was white-dominated. The blacks were excluded from this association, so they formed their own association and we made contacts with the association. That helped us to relate with South Africa. Then in 1980, things had reached a head and we asked that South Africa Medical Association be expelled from the World Medical Association and we mobilised many other countries of the world to support our move. In fact, the Scandinavian countries agreed with us; you know they are very liberal. The UK was ambivalent; Australia was on their side, while the US was a bit dilly-dallying, but then they couldn’t ignore the black population in South Africa. Of course we were not racist, but you’ve got to use what you have to achieve your objectives. So, we then mobilised enough support and of course, Maitama Sule was the Chairman of anti-Apartheid Committee of the United Nations at that time and he invited me over to New York to address the committee on the evils of apartheid in South Africa sometime in 1979. And that enabled the UN to take a stand on Apartheid. Then in 1981, I was invited to the World Medical Assembly in Lisbon, Portugal, where I raised a motion that South Africa should be expelled from the World Medical Association. And to our surprise, most countries present voted in favour and they were expelled. And of course, having been expelled from the world stage, it became difficult for them to operate. And then we formed what we called the Confederation of African Medical Association and Society and they also elected me as their Secretary General. And for 10 years, we fought this battle. I was fortunate that I had the support of the Nigerian government from the Murtala, Obasanjo, Shagari, Buhari and even Babangida regimes. It was quite tough. Most times when I travelled to South Africa to have meetings with the black doctors, they would tell me at the airport, “Look, you are on your own here. If anything happens to you, it’s your problem.” Later, the majority rule came and Mandela was released. But before then, I went to Robben Island on a few occasions to see Mandela. So, that was the beginning of my association with South Africa. In the meantime, because I had gone to Harvard University to study Health Management Policy, the World Health Organisation (WHO) became interested in my development sort of. So, they sought to bring me over to both Geneva and Brazzaville, which was the regional headquarters of WHO in Africa. So, they used to bring me over to consult me on health issues concerning Africa. After 1994 when majority rule was established in South Africa, the country was still unsure of itself and started looking for experts all over the world especially in Africa. WHO approached me and asked me to go there and advise them on the training of specialist doctors, especially among the black population, because hitherto these blacks were not allowed to undergo any specialist training. They had to leave the country for the US, Canada and other countries to get their training and even at that, they had problems returning to the country. That was why they invited me over and negotiation began in 1996 and eventually in October 1997, WHO wrote to me that South Africa wanted me as their Adviser on the rapid production of specialists especially among the black population. Luckily, I’ve been a Professor of Surgery, and formerly Chief Medical Director in LUTH; I mean I was quite experienced in training. I was Chairman, Faculty of Surgery of the West African College of Surgeons; I was an Examiner in England. And that is being humble, because sometimes when I look back, I asked myself ‘you mean you’ve done all these things?’ I went there in 1997 to the University of Transky now known as Walter Sisulu University, which was just 30 kilometers to Mandela’s hometown. I used to be one of those who went to look after him during weekends, if there was an emergency. That was how I met senior people both in government and the academia. And when my WHO contract ended, they didn’t want me to come back, but I said I’ve had enough, because I have trained enough people to take over.
Most Nigerians believe that South Africa has not reciprocated Nigeria’s immense support particularly during the apartheid regime. What is your take on this?
I think they did initially. They welcomed our first generation Nigerian doctors, professors and what have you. Many even rose to become Vice Chancellors in South Africa even after Mandela became the President. So, I believe they reciprocated. But what happened down the line was partly our fault and partly theirs. Our fault was that there was no restriction on the caliber of Nigerians going to that country. South Africa is not an ECOWAS country where there was free movement of people. And of course when a situation like that arises, both the desired and the undesired would get visas. And I imagine that because of the economic situation here, many Nigerians wanted to travel to South Africa, which is a country of immense opportunities. Over there, the system is well organised. The system that was left behind by the apartheid people was being maintained. Now, if things are so easy, then don’t exploit it for God’s sake. I have a feeling that the wrong types of Nigerians have flooded South African and therefore started to transfer our own inadequacies to that country. But on their part, you can identify two main groups of South Africans. There are those who lived abroad and were part of the apartheid struggle and recognised the role of African countries and the role of Cuba. Cuba is highly respected in South Africa today, because the country regulates which Cuban goes to South Africa. If you are a Cuban wishing to travel to South Africa, the government has to give you permission. They don’t allow just anybody to go there. You must have a mission for travelling there. There is also a generation of South Africans who are now the political elites. This group never experienced the contributions of African countries to the eradication of apartheid. They suffered cruel indignity of apartheid including suppression of education opportunities. And because they have not gone through the mill, they have problems relating with other people, including Nigerians. So, you’ve got to understand where they are coming from and be understanding. The political elite is more or less dominated by this generation of people and therefore, the people behind them, that is those people demonstrating against foreigners have nobody to look up to in terms of behaviour. Some people continue to say the body language of their leaders support xenophobia; of course you can see that, because they just don’t know the contributions we made to stop apartheid.
Do you think the South African government should have done more to prevent the xenophobic attacks, because this is not the first time this is happening?
Certainly! But like I said, power has shifted. People who should have done more to stop this are no longer in control. Again, South Africa is beginning to have economic problems. When you introduce capitalism in a country of many poor people, the vision of capitalism says you are always on your own. It’s about how much you can do to determine how much you have in your pocket at any point in time. So, you’ve got to have a take-off point to even trade or start a business and many of these people don’t just have anything. The government initially tried to solve this problem by providing all sorts of social benefits like unemployment allowance and so on. There was even a time when if you have HIV, you get an allowance. But now the chicken has come home to roost. I was in South Africa last week; I go there every three or four months and I could see that (President) Zuma was at his wits’ end, not only on how to satisfy the international community, but also his own people. And of course, the whites themselves are partly aloof. A white man even told me that when the blacks finish with themselves, they would come after us. They want a solution to this problem, but they don’t have a way out. Nigeria can help them to do it on a government to government level. We would benefit a lot by being with them.
The controversial recall of Nigeria’s High Commissioner and his deputy has generated divergent comments from several quarters. Do you think the decision was hasty or justified?
It was hasty, uncalled for and unwarranted. The situation has not got to that stage; no Nigerian was killed….
But do we have to wait until that happens….
Of course we don’t have to wait, but as at that time, the protest was being controlled by the government. Though they were not alert enough to respond immediately, but then as soon as they took action, the protest was curtailed. So, when things were getting better was not the right time to recall our ambassadors. That is the point I’m making. What should have been done was to ask people from Nigeria to go there and study the situation and advise appropriately. It was a wrong diplomatic move to recall them openly even though they have denied it. Luckily for me, I’ve been involved in a lot of inter-government issues that I know that when a country takes an action, I know the purpose for taking such action.
