Just last week, a video went viral, via African Independent Television’s (AIT), Kaakaki programme, where a youth leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), practically begged the federal government to come to the aid of Nigerians who are down with asthma and other related diseases because of the high cost of medicine in the country. He went further to argue that Augmentin and Ventolin inhaler which used to cost N1,800 and N3,500 are now going for as high as N24,000 and N8,000, respectively.
He also warned that if nothing is done urgently, many Nigerians suffering from ailments that require the aforementioned medicines, now beyond the affordability of the common man, may stand the risk of losing their lives. For clarity, Augmentin is an antibiotic drug prescribed by doctors to treat different infections caused by bacteria. Looking at our environment and the condition of the country and her people, you would, but agree that one in every ten Nigerians need these drugs. The paradox is that, Nigerians as at this time, are suffering from bacteria – induced sicknesses, especially now that people cannot feed properly, not to talk of buying medicine.
The sad thing however, is that the lives of greater number of people are likely to be on the edge, given the economic situation of the country. Currently, Nigeria’s economy is not growing. In fact, experts on economic matters predict that the country is in dire strait, unless the trend is reversed soon. Unfortunately, the country is in a situation where priority is not given to the basic needs that would keep people going. In Nigeria today, food, electricity, good drinking water, education, health care, good road networks and security of lives and properties are all luxury, even as the citizens groan on daily basis, begging for what rightly should be theirs.
There is no clear cut definition of where we are heading. The economy is not growing either, but instead many are closing shops owing to high cost of operations, yet everything is reduced to politics even though the government is supposed to have settled down, nine months after the general elections. That also accounts to why the previous administration of Muhammadu Buhari could not fix, at least, one of the four refineries in eight years while in office. As it stands, both local and international investors may not be attracted to the country because of the economic quagmire, and again, the government of the day should not shut its eyes, but do all it can to change the trend.
Beyond President Bola Ahmed Tinubu canvassing that Nigeria will accommodate the foreign investors, efforts should be made to revamp and resuscitate the ailing economy, and by extension put infrastructure in place capable of attracting investment opportunities. That is the way to go. That is equally what the people want to see from the present government that has promised Nigerians so much. That citizens of this country cannot afford to buy common drugs when they are sick indeed, is an aberration for a country that is blessed with abundant human and natural resources.
We cannot continue this way. We urge the government to quickly look into the high cost of drugs in the country and why companies are relocating to neighbouring African countries to site their industries. Provision of quality health care is the responsibility of every government. The time to act is now. No amount of globetrotting to woo investors without first addressing the economic challenge would work. Fix the decaying infrastructure and make food and drugs as well as security a priority. These are the fruits of good governance while other things follow. Continuing from where your predecessor stopped may not augur well, unless the ”Renewed Hope Agenda Mantra’, is mere lip service!
