Why the Titanic sank: Sustainability of the ‘Nigerian factor’
“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing…. ” – Thomas Carlyle
Around 7:00 am, I was awakened by a call from one of my friends, who wanted me to inquire on his behalf about admission into one of the colleges of Health Sciences I attended about a decade ago.
As our conversation progressed, he shared with me another contact he had made at another school, stating that, considering the security situation in that state, he could gain admission into the final year to take the final professional exams and be awarded a certified healthcare practitioner.
When I inquired further about how possible that was, considering his lack of knowledge in that field, I knew him to have studied another related healthcare course and was now looking to switch over. His answer was, “You know the ‘Nigeria factor.'”
I was taken aback, unprepared for this update. I was so naive, not expecting this level of decadence. How does it come about that a person could obtain a certificate in any health-related course without the required rigorous training and hands-on skills?
I thought this could happen somewhere, but not in my beloved profession. Our love for shortcuts is going to ruin us. This ‘Nigeria factor,’ if it continues, definitely would consume us.
It wouldn’t come as a surprise when some of our elites do not believe in being treated at our local facilities. How certain are you that such a quack isn’t in the teaching hospitals or the National Hospital in Abuja?
The system that allows them to obtain a certificate without the required training is the same system that could lead to their employment ahead of more competent and well-grounded individuals.
Given the current state of affairs, I couldn’t entirely blame those who can afford the best private hospitals or overseas clinics. Eight years, and one man was incapable of rectifying this mess. It was a systematic and complex problem that required collective efforts.
President Muhammadu Buhari wasn’t present when the candidate paid the highest sum to the school director or head of department to get admission. Buhari or Tinubu wasn’t present when the National Board of Examinations failed to conduct the necessary checks before approving those candidates, or to verify whether they had attained the required training.
President Goodluck Jonathan, or President Olusegun Obasanjo, wasn’t present when the agency responsible for recruitment employed such reckless individuals without conducting a thorough investigation into their accredited institution or level of expertise.
Our universities are well-regulated and produce individuals who are competent enough, but they primarily focus on producing senior nursing officers, medical doctors, senior pharmacists, and radiographers or medical laboratory scientists. What of those responsible for taking your blood sample or those who gave your child the vaccine doses?
I am not questioning the entire workforce. Indeed, there were many hard-working and competent personnel, but with the way things were moving, there was also a lot more quackery. If things like this can occur in the most regulated sector, such as healthcare, how confident are you in other professions?
What guarantee do you have over the NAFDAC recommendation on specific products? How assured are we of the technicians managing our airline services and the local engineers constructing our bridges?
The system that you seem smart enough to outmanoeuvre, driving a car without the necessary papers and licenses, might be the very system that produces some of your teachers, your drivers, and your law enforcement, whom you entrust your very life to. This creates a form of distrust in Nigeria.
I was interested in a documentary aired by the BBC about Heathrow Airport in the UK. Although it’s an international airport and one of the best globally, comparing the standardised system there could be absurd, but still, it’s obvious the British have a culture of meticulous attention to detail and ensuring everything is done correctly with due process.
It’s not surprising that there are the fewest number of automobile accidents, maternal mortalities, electricity power grid collapses, and flood disasters.
In a system where everyone took responsibility as if the success or failure of a task depended on him/her, life could have been nicer. However, in our society, we enjoy the blame game too much. Every failure is attributed to the leaders at the top, sometimes ridiculously, upon a single soul, the president.
In the movie Titanic, it’s evident that the fateful accident of the mega ship was attributed to some technical errors made by the crew assistants, not just the captain alone.
Imagine a minor negligence that led to such a catastrophe, and compare that to the thousands of such mistakes, even greater, that we commit daily in our various walks of life.
The deliberate 15 minutes you were late could have been the cause of someone’s death. The intentional habit of switching your phone off on duty could have been the source of losing someone’s life.
The lack of a proper checklist could have led to a conflagration, a dam break, a bridge collapse, or a building collapse.
Trying to do the right thing doesn’t cost more than doing otherwise. It only builds your character, gives satisfaction, and pays in the long run.
How sustainable was this, the ‘Nigeria factor’?
Saifullahi Attahir wrote from Federal University Dutse. He can be reached via saifullahiattahir93@gmail.com.
