15112022

18 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2022
THE leadership and members of the
Medical and Dental Consultants of
Nigeria, MDCAN, deserve a pat on
the head for voluntarily opting out of
the last eight-months strike of the
Academic Staff Union of Universities,
ASUU.
The ASUU strike grounded academic
activities in most university campuses Resident Doctors through the teething
over the Federal Government’s failure stages of their professional
to fulfill its signed Memorandum of development.
Action, MOA, particularly with regard Should such an important
to the infrastructural revitalisation of component of our tertiary education
our universities, addressing the poor workforce down tools, it will probably
pay structure of university lecturers, be too much for the system to cope.
resolving the vexed issue of a People whose primary responsibility
foolproof payroll system and other is to save lives should never be pushed
issues.
to the point of embarking on strike.
The MDCAN is an association of The Federal Government’s
senior medical doctors who are unwillingness over the decades to
primarily responsible for the training solve the ASUU imbroglio once and
of our young doctors. They also form for all after signing a series of
the backbone of medical specialists undertakings to do so, is enough to
who save lives at the various university frustrate even the most patriotic and
teaching hospitals, and pace the humane worker. But MDCAN chose
Kudos to MDCAN over ASUU strikes
to stay back and continue their good
work.
With that, the academic calendar of
the medical institutions in our public
sector universities continued to run
seamlessly. If otherwise had been the
case, we would have risked the failure
to turn out a new set of medical
doctors for one academic session. That
would have hit us from both ends,
given the large number of our medical
and health sector workers who
migrate for greener pastures abroad
every year.
The sacrifice of the MDCAN can only
be appreciated further when we look
at the gloomy and worsening picture
of inadequacy in the doctor to citizen
ratio in Nigeria, especially under the
regime of President Muhammadu
Buhari. In 2015, Nigeria had only
about 34,000 medical doctors serving
about 190 million people.
Today, rather than increasing, the
number has dropped to estimated
24,000. Out of these, 1,307 Nigeriantrained
doctors were licenced by the
British medical authorities over the
past one year alone. Meanwhile, the
Nigerian Medical Association, NMA,
says Nigeria needs 237,000 doctors to
serve over 200 million people. But
because of the poor handling of the
health sector by our political elite, less
than half of doctors trained in Nigeria
remain to serve their country.
We hope our next crop of leaders
will attach the needed premium to
fostering a better health system, rather
than the practice of abandoning the
people to their fate while getting
treated abroad at public expense.
The author in this fourth and concluding
piece, continues with the discourse on states
creation and concludes that states and even
local government creation exercises were
biased and lopsided. The third instalment
was published last week.
WHAT is more, the ill-fated Federal
structure which rested on a theory of
regional security and autonomy, as well as
the socio-economic imbalance in the political
system prevented the emergence of a broadlybased
political consensus and clearly
perceived national objectives. Consequently
the issue of state creation became a nagging
problem that plagued this nation from its very
inception. s
The movement for the creation of states in
Nigeria can be traced back to 1937 when Dr.
Nnamdi Azikiwe, GCFR (November 16, 1904
– May 11, 1996), advocated in his book The
Political Blueprint of Nigeria, a Federal
form of government for the country and the
division of the country into eight constituent
units based on geographical configuration.
Dr. Azikiwe was later joined by Chief
Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo, GCFR
(March 6, 1909-May 9, 1987) who, in a book,
Path To Nigeria Freedom published in
1947, proposed a redivision of Nigeria into
ten federating units with ethnic, linguistic and
cultural affinity as the basis of division.
However, Chief Awolowo writing in 1966
seemed to have modified his stand when he
shifted ground and advocated a redivision of
OPINION
Anioma: The bias and imbalance in
creation of states (4)
the country into eighteen states - nine in the
North and nine in the South based on linguistic
and cultural affinity as well as economic
viability of states in the Federation.
However on May 1, 1967, at a meeting of
Western Region Leaders of thought at Ibadan,
the same Chief Obafemi Awolowo advocated
the creation of COR state - to be made of
Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers state. “There is
urgent need for the creation of COR state by
decree which will be backed if need be by the
means of force”.
Increased agitation by various minority
ethnic groups for their own states in which
they would feel safe from domination by the
ethnic groups prompted the British
Government in September 1957 to appoint
the Minorities Commission, with Sir Henry
Willink as Chairman to - ascertain facts about
minorities in Nigeria and propose means of
allaying the fears, advise what safeguards
could be provided in the Constitution,
The present thirty-six states
structure in Nigeria is biased and
partial.; even the present 774 local
government structure is worse, as
it is prejudiced or lopsided
recommend, though only as last resort, the
creation of states specifying the areas to be
included in such States evaluating their
economic and administrative viability and
Send Opinions & Letters to:
opinions1234@yahoo.com
ascertaining what effect the creation of New
States would have on existing States and on
the Federation and examine the question of
revising the boundaries of existing Region.
The exercise for the creation of states was
first carried out by General Yakubu Gowon on
May 5, 1967 when he created twelve states
out of the four regions we had then, namely
Western Region, Eastern Region, Mid-Western
Region and Northern Region.
He created North Western state, North
Eastern state, Kano state, North Central state,
Benue/Plateau state, Kwara state, Western state,
Lagos state and Mid Western state.
On February 3, 1976, General Murtala
Ramat Muhammed (November 8, 1938-
February 13, 1976) created additional seven
states to make it nineteen states. They are
Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Imo, Niger, Ogun and
Ondo states. In effect only four military rulers
have created states in Nigeria, namely
General Yakubu Gowon (88), General Murtala
Muhammed (November 8, 1938-February 13,
1976), General Ibrahim Babangida (81) and
General Sani Abacha (September 20, 1943-
June 8,1998).
I do not know whether new states will be
created with the provisions as contained in
the Constitution. The present thirty-six states
structure in Nigeria is biased and partial. Even
the present 774 local government structure is
worse. It is prejudiced. Lopsidedness is a better
word. Concluded