An infectious disease expert, Professor Oyewale Tomori says President Muhammadu Buhari always flying out of the country for medical tourism with public funds is wrong.
Professor Tomori stated this during an interview while speaking on medical tourism on Arise News monitored by TNC.
Buhari had October 31, departed Abuja for London, the United Kingdom for a routine medical check-up.
According to a tweet by the president’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, Buhari is expected back in the country in the “second week of November.”
The latest trip is one of several medical trips the president has embarked on since assuming office in 2015; spending at least 212 days abroad.
Amid the public criticism against the president’s constant medical check-ups abroad, the information minister had some time ago, defended that, there was nothing wrong with the country’s local health care.
He added that it was, however, every leader’s personal choice, including the president’s personal choice to frequent doctors anywhere in the world
While speaking on the president’s frequent medical tourism, Professor Tomori said although it is Buhari’s personal choice to seek medical treatment abroad, he should use his funding and not public funds.
He said, “They may be correct it is his personal choice but he should use his personal funding, not public funding. And that is a major difference. I have no quarrel with anybody going where they go, but let them spend their money. But they can’t take public funding to go and take care of their personal issue, particularly when they are leaders of a country. I think it’s a very bad role model for us as a country.
“I was just telling somebody that when you go to the website today, just type medical tourism in Nigeria, the picture that comes out is that of my president weaving to me, bye-bye, you know. That is not right. Whatever the minister of information is saying, to me that is not right. On his personal level, yes, he can, let him spend his personal money, but he shouldn’t be taking our public fund to go and spend on his personal issue. He has the right to go anywhere but at his own personal funding.”
The infectious disease expert further said,
“We can grant everybody his own choice to go to where he wants. Our President has been going for medical treatment before he became president. Vice President also decided to have his done here.
“I think in this age of freedom and personal choice, they have their rights. But again, whatever it is you’re doing, first of all, leadership puts on you some measure with the message you’re passing to your people. That’s number one. Secondly, I keep saying also that anybody has a right to spend his money wherever he wants, but that’s his money or her money, not our money. That’s the difference between the two.”
Asked why the president can not lead by example by patronising the country’s healthcare and boosting the confidence of the people who look up to him, Tomori said,
“It is a matter style of leadership. I did read of a former Malaysian leader. When he was president of Malaysia and he had a heart problem and the people wanted to take him out of the country, he said, No, that he either dies there or gets recovered. And when he recovered, he then said, look, this must not happen again in this country. And he decided to improve the situation in his country. About 20, 25 years later, he came back as president, because he led a good example.
“Unfortunately for public officials, their personal life becomes a public thing because they are representing all of us. Let’s be frank with each other I did say that they have a personal choice but I did say also that look, the choice must be your personal choice with your money. You can not be taking public funds to go and solve your problem. That’s the type of leadership we are talking about, a leadership that sets an example, and that people look up to you. We should be able to look up to our president and unfortunately in Nigeria, who do you look up to because they are setting bad example for all of us.”
