Shortly after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the keenly contested 2023 presidential elections, the Lion of Bourdillon had a visitor in the person of former British Prime Minister, Sir Tony Blair. The charismatic Blair who resigned in 2007 because of his lying to the British public that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction which led to the liquidation of Saddam Hussein and general instability in the oil-rich nation set up Tony Blair Institute for Global Change which he uses to influence global public policy. Undoubtedly, he has the ear of world leaders and is arguably Britain’s most influential former Prime Minister. He made a fortune from the soapbox with his top-notch oratorical skills and is a frequent visitor to the US which is the world’s largest speaking market.
He allegedly has a goldmine in troubled Sierra Leone and has more than a passing interest in Africa. I was skeptical of his visit as I personally feel he really has nothing to offer Nigeria beyond using her to further his personal interest.
I was further scandalized when the famous Anyiam Osigwe memorial lecture series featured ex-British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson as a guest speaker. This is a man that has been discredited by his party and country; what on earth is he doing in Nigeria delivering a lecture on good governance? Our inferiority complex is really alarming.
The biggest masquerade that recently came to town was the co-founder of Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates who met with Tinubu in Abuja.
While not privy to their closed-door discussions, the little I gleaned from what journalists in the State House reported was that it centred largely around healthcare. He confirmed this when he said that the annual budget per person in Nigeria for healthcare was less than 7000 naira annually.
It is no secret that the healthcare of Nigeria is largely in the hands of the international donor agencies with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation playing a major role.
A critical question to ask is what does Bill Gates stand for with regard to health, especially in Africa? It is no secret that Bill Gates is heavily pro-choice and liberal and backs abortion and the use of abortion-inducing drugs as well as contraceptives.
Asides from being a donor to Nigeria’s healthcare system, he has a large swathe of the Nigerian media under his thumb to do his liberal propagandist bidding. He has a strategic partnership with one of the leading and most widely read newspapers in the country which he uses to greatly influence the public policy direction of the nation with regard to health.
Health is wealth goes the ancient cliché and when health is lost, something is lost goes another. Abortion is not only illegal in Nigeria, but it is also against national interest as well since it denies many potential Nigerians the most fundamental human right – The right to life.
Tinubu as the nation’s number one citizen who took an oath to protect national interest shouldn’t be fraternizing with a man whose ideological leaning is radically leftist and is at odd with Nigeria’s.
It is high time the policymakers in Nigeria look inwards to create a sustainable financing model for the healthcare sector rather than being helplessly dependent on foreign donor agencies with their murderous and sinister intentions for the country.
He who pays the piper dictates the tune and Tinubu shouldn’t be carried away by the razzmatazz of Gates’s wealth to betray the Nigerian people’s health needs.
Why can’t Bill Gates build maternal health centres all over Nigeria for the safe delivery of millions of babies?
Your guess is as good as mine!
Comments
0 comment