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The set-up of the healthcare system include the followings;

a) The hospitals which are i) government ii) private iii) specialists , both government and private and teaching hopitals.

b) Clinics , mostly privately owned. c) Local Government health centres.

d) Maternity homes and trado-medical health centres.

This set up covers almost all the necessities of healthcare delivery system . Although a beautiful set-up, the Government owned institutions however suffers the ills of : inadequate funding, staffing, maladministration, lack of personnel motivation, brain drain, obsolete and malfunctioning vital equipments, unstable water and electricity supply, non-availability of essential drugs and dressings, poor sanitation etc. The system is also highly over-commercialised thus depriving the people of needed medical care. There is almost no consideration for emergency cases in Government owned hospitals. The law of payment before treatment does a lot of havoc on the people and many die before the needed cash can be raised. Despite that the relatives or friends still have to pay before the corpse can be released for burial. The personnel in the Government owned hospitals find it a lot worse than their counterparts in the private sector. It is commonplace in some parts of the country especially northern Nigeria to find that medical personnel from other parts of the country are employed only on contract basis with a short life span. The contract may be renewed or not depending on if or when one of northern Nigerian indigene qualifies from the medical school and needs a job, the man from the south now considered a foreigner must then give way. This is an example of job insecurity that discourages personnel from the south practicing in the north, where their services are needed. The people are the worse for it, as a result of this politics of ethnic discrimination. The Nigerian Medical Association and other profesional health bodies does much to serve as watch-dog for improved and sustainable healthcare delivery but they come under the hammer of the Government which sees them as detractors rather than partners in progress. Now the government infilterates into the professional bodies to cause instability and to stifle progressive opposition voices. Nigerians are the worse for it. The country is a traditionally African society, as such a lot of trado-medical input in the organised healthcare delivery system is expected. Although this is a widespread phenomenon but it has yet to find a place in the system like accupunture and herbalcure in the chinese healthcare system. The present civilian Government of Gen. Obasanjo rtd. is yet to allign the orthodox and traditional medical practices. Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti ( brother to human rights activist Dr. Beko Kuti, a medical doctor and former NMA president ) did a lot as health minister to bridge the gap between the two healthcare delivery services and all concerned associations. Today, the problem of Nigeria is one step forward two steps backwards.The primary health care programme and other progressive and cost effective programmes he established are slowly being jettisoned.

The Trado-medical centre established at the department of pharmacology, college of medicine, university of Lagos, the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos and The Nigerian Institute of Pharmaceutical Research in Abuja are plagued by inadequate funding, non-availability of research materials such as chemicals, drugs, equipment and tools, machines etc. High import duty and ban on the importation of certain research materials are some of the negative steps taken by the present Government to stifle its own establishments.

The provision of pharmaceutical services in the country is a multi-facet affair. Drug manufacturing, packaging or repackaging are the concerns of the multi-national and indigenous drug companies. Both are also involved in drug distribution while the indigenous whole-salers and retailers are involved more in sales to the consumers. The retailers are the pharmacies which dispenses among others prescribed drugs and the patent medicine stores which dispenses over the counter drugs .

The multinationals to mention a few include the followings; The Nigerian-German Chemical Company, SmithKline-Beecham, Glaxowellcome, Merck, Zeneca drugs, Rhone Poulenc rörer,West African Drugs(WAD),Pfizer products plc, Chemical and Allied Products plc, Boots plc, A J Seward, Patterson Zochonis ( PZ), Mirapharm,Jansen products, etc.

It is necessary to give examples in order to show that pharmaceutical and health services in Nigeria are controlled by western countries such as Germany, Britain, USA, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Asia(India), although other Asian countries are also involved in the exportation of pharmaceutical raw materials and finished products such as China and Indonesia. The multi-nationals control the fate of healthcare delivery in Nigeria in a nutshell.

The policies and politics of these countries directly and indirectly through their pharmaceutical companies influence factors such as; Cost of drugs, availability, Scarcity, affordability by patients and other consumers and the attendant faking and repackaging of expired drugs for onward sale to unsuspecting consumers, in which case both foreign and local companies are guilty of this charge.

Another way of perpeterating injustice on Nigerians by the multi-nationals is the issue of hoarding or encouraging hoarding to cause spiral increases in prices. At the end of the day, the companies count their profits geometrically and the people count their losses also in similar trend in terms of high death rates, infection rates, prolonged period of illnesses, re-infection rates etc.

But is this possible in a country with a Government and established legal authorities? YES. That is the situation in Nigeria where the Government dances to the tune of the overseas directors and Governments of these companies, as well as Government officials who make deals and close their eyes to injustices perpeterated on their fellow Nigerians. It is noteworthy that there seems to be no law to cub price inflations and market monopoly in Nigeria . It is a free market economy understood to mean uncontrolled exploitation and a winner takes all affair. The people are forced to buy when they don't have a choice even if they’ll spend all of their meagre salaries on medications.

One other unfortunate scene is the indiscriminate hawking and open sale of drugs including antibiotics and other prescription drugs. Sometimes the sellers are not to blame when they see this as a means of survival and the manufacturers and distributors place much emphasis on marketing and profits at the detriment of ethics and health of the society. The Government of the day rather than address the problem from the root either look the other way, or persecute only the small fries.The people expect a change for the better under a civillian administration but till date, they are getting a raw deal. This Government wants the people to continue to make more sacrifices but not ready to reciprocate the patience of Nigerians by alleviating their sufferings. It is ironical that the same Gen. Obasanjo who was quite vocal at criticising past rulers has been unable to do much himself even within the spate of time that he was sworn in. It must not be forgotten that he was also a party to the problem being a past miltary ruler himself.

I would like to make a short comment on the legal system only as a layman and a witness of the system as it affects the man on the street.

The civil and criminal justice system is one in which a very large majority of the people are ignorant of.

The level of legal education and awareness of Nigerians are very poor.

Attempts were made in the early days (I witnessed the sixities and early seventies) to teach a semblance of civil laws to scholars (Primary and secondary schools) but this does not exist today.

For a first offender in the vioation of any law, he finds out that the police is the »law« ad infinitum. i.e. The law, the Prosecutor, the baillant, the court clerk, the jailer, the cashier and even the lawyer / solicitor. To be released on bail for any offence is to pay cash to the prosecuting officer or the police station superintendent / officer-in-charge, which is shared pro-rata. The amount of cash paid, depends on the gravity of the offence.

People are thrown into jails indefinitely for being unable to raise the cash for bail or bail bonds, for law gravity offences like crossing the express / major roads or picking up arguments with a policeman or military officer in a bus or anywhere.

The high cost of legal fees sometimes make people comply with police exploitation and when one cannot afford a solicitor it is better not to go to court. The courts are not better because for civil offences, judgements or court decisions are not corrective but punitive measures.

Most people become criminal or hardened criminals when they have been jailed for flimsy excuses, bailable offences or unjustly imprisoned.

They get mixed up with hardened criminals who induct them into their system willingly or unwilingly, because there is no hope for a jailbird. They carry the tag always, to get a job and settle down to a normal way of life is almost impossible but only by the grace of a mentor or financier.

The armed forces and the police are above the law. It is commonplace to be carried to an Army Barracks, maltreated and locked up for days or weeks for an offence against a military man. You get reprieve only when you know someone in power.

An important example of the abuse of the legal system and executive power is the order given by the present President General) Olusegun Obasanjo (retd). (ex-Military Head of State 1976-79) to Police and Military personnel: to shoot at sight those whose stock in trade is to disturb the peace of the society. For example anybody who calls himself a member of the Odua People´s Congress should be arrested and prosecuted and those who resist arrest should be shot at sight. The Punch, Friday 26 November 1999, vol 17, 822

One of the hinderances to peace and prosperity in the country today is injustice; but there cannot be peace without justice.

Road constructions and maintenance is always an ongoing process.

Nigeria can boast of a high network of road systems which was constructed over the years. Today most of the roads are not in good shape. Bad weather, flooding and high temperatures as well as politics of road maintenance have contributed largely to the state of our roads. Millions of Naira are collected monthly as toll, especially on the expressways; Allocation from VAT (Value Added Tax); yearly budget allocations etc are sources of revenue for road construction and maintenance but we still have a long way to go to achieve smooth ride on our roads.

The road construction companies and Nigerian collaborators are the happier for it for the amount of money pumped into our roads. The giants among them are Julius Berger, Strabag (German companies), Storbilini Visonini (Italy) to mention but a few.

The rail system has been neglected to the benefit of road transport even though billions of Naira (to China and to Pakistan or so) have been pumped into constructing more routes and upgrading present ones. To date there is little to show for it.

The most appreciable legacy to date aimed at maintaining safety and sanity on our roads have been the establishment of the Federal Road Safety Commission in the late eighties and the untiring efforts of its first Chairman and Chief Executive Professor Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate and Human Rights activist.

b) Traffic congestion in the cities is a common scene despite of efforts at alleviating such.

But it is worthy of note that there are no traffic lights on our roads in almost all parts of the country except Abuja, the new federal capital. Lagos the commercial nerve centre of the nation and most metropolitan cannot boast of traffic lights even though these existed before the militarisation of the country.

Past and present Governments are not making much effort in this direction.

The negative effects of road congestions in terms of manpower cost and commercial loss are enormous.

Perhaps when the country has a Government of the people, for the people and by the people (»True democracy«), then things will be truly forward for all.

Electricity supply in the country is being undertaken by the Federal Government under the auspices of the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA). There are state divisions of NEPA which control the districts and all these constitutes the network of NEPA.

There are also what we call Rural Electrification Schemes (RES) in localities to where the national grid does not extend. These make use of giant generators powered by fuel (diesel etc.) to generate electricity especially in rural communities.

However the RES is only able to supply electricity for a specified number of hours daily for example I have witnessed one of six hours daily from 18.00 to midnight.

Despite that the supply may not be assured daily as there are always interruptions.

For the national grid, electricity is generated by Hydro power, e.g. in Kainji dam, Shiroro dam etc and Thermal e.g. Egbin Thermal Station, with power generating stations scattered over the major regions of the country.

Despite the ability and capacity of the nation to generate electricity, incessant power obstructions have been a major problem of the country till today. Although every state of the country has the capaacity to generate and manage its own electricity and water but have not been planned or encouraged to do so.

Electricity is seen as a form of »power« and which successive Governments have been obliged to centralise for the following reasons:-

Inspite of the big financial input and high electricity bills, the country has always and to date experienced daily blackouts.

Nigerians have learnt to »Never Expect Power Always.« (NEPA)

Although Nigeria is in the Tropical region and there are high potentials for solar energy use especially in the North but this has not been on the agenda of the Government.

A lot of research has been carried out by university dons but this has not really attracted the interest of the Government. It is will only when foreign Governments in colder regions (Europe and North America) now sell the idea and a lot of foreign currencies are involved to be lodged in overseas accounts.

The best way to enjoy electricity in Nigeria is to buy generators which are mostly imported from Germany, Japan, Britain, South Korea, etc. These have established companies in Nigeria with many men in Government as directors or share holders.

Nigerians really have it tough from their Governments, civilian or military.