Nigeria, popularly known as the giant of Africa, is one of the very famous countries found in west Africa, having made her mark in her sports,Agricultural produce,national and international trade e.t.c, Nigeria is one that has reckoned with other nations due to goals requiring the co-operation between her and other nations, one of such countries is the United States Of America.
After gaining independence from the British colonial rule, she has aimed for development, this she has achieved in some sectors such as sports,export of agricultural produce,international donations e.t.c but her health sector is one that lags behind.
Being one of the pioneers of local traditional medicine in Africa, it was hard to accept and imbibe the use of orthodox medicine as most of her citizens gravely believed in the effectiveness of local traditional medicine, this they had as they have seen this kind of medicine doing the magic for them since ages, so accepting one brought by whom(caucasian race) had once put her in slavery was quite difficult. This was one major factor that had derailed her development in this sector, as she could not make progress where her citizens never believed in. But thanks to Education, with the awareness brought about by means of primary,secondary and tertiary educational institutions, Her citizens were able to accept the use of orthodox medicine and method of treatment, thus she was set free from the major set-back of 'non-acceptance of orthodox medicine'. with this in play, one would have expected her to suddenly blossom in this sector, but am afraid that was not the case, she only moved from one opposing factor to another, now it was the issue of corruption.
Becoming a republic in the year 1963, Nigeria has experienced both civil and military rule, with several coups not left out, one thing was constant in both rule, and this was the issue of bad governance, though no government can actually please all of it's citizen as there are those that would always oppose good things, but in the case of Nigeria, a huge percentage of her citizens were displeased and badly affected by the government she had, this led to coup after coup which proposed but never fulfilled the better end.
Still in the civil rule till date, she has experienced corrupt leaders who get to loot her, leaving behind peanuts for her development, these politicians embezzles her public funds and keep them in foreign accounts, in a way boosting the economy of other countries. They allocate very little funds for the health sector that this sector gets to suffer from lack of health care equipments and facilities,brain drain as most doctors and health care professionals get to travel out of the country after seeing that the government does not provide adequate working environment as well as no encouraging scheme in terms of allowances and salary payment, this makes her to lose priceless intellects to other countries, this is a proven fact as we have seen Nigerian doctors and nurses in the western part of the world cause great changes in the medical world, such glory would not be brought back home(Nigeria) as these individuals only have nightmares left of their country.
with the massive embezzlement of public funds by those holding political offices, there is usually not enough funds left for the purchasing of orthodox drugs in hospitals, this causes doctors in both federal and state hospitals to prescribe drugs for patient for them to get outside which ought not be.
Outside political corruption, there lies a great one in the medical government, this clearly is seen in their activities, it is no more news that free mosquitoe nets donated by the World Health Organization to Nigeria to help combat Malaria which ought to be given free to her citizens are now being sold to her citizens, this is a wicked act as it shows how self-centered those in the medical government are in Nigeria, as they do not care about the need of the common man but just their bank account balance.
A major shame this lag has caused to her is that her elites do not believe in her health sector anymore as they would not mind booking a VIP flight for a western country at the slight feel of an headache just to get optimum health care attention as they believe this they can not be offered here in Nigeria. A total shame it is that most of her citizens now have dual citizenship as they were born overseas, a decision made by their parents who believe child-birth is more safe over there other than in Nigeria, this causes other countries to look down on her this is not fair, not nice and ought not be.