“I know death hath ten thousand several doors for men to take their exits” – John Webster, 1580-1652.

This article could easily have been titled SCARCE DRUGS, HIGH PRICES KILLING NIGERIANS PREMATURELY and it would just have been appropriate. But, since the end of everything is death, we might as well confront the issue head on. When President Tinubu announced the end of fuel subsidy and unification of exchange rates, he meant well for Nigerians.

But, if there is an enduring lesson I have learnt reading about governance it is this: good intentions are never enough. As Ben Graham has reminded us, “You can get in more trouble with good ideas than bad ones”. The two ideas which have pitched Nigeria into a lot of trouble were/are basically good ideas. There was no way the nation could indefinitely pay increasing and endless subsidies on fuel without reaching an economic crunch.

Similarly, multiple exchange rates, some determined by the President, others by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and most determined in the open market, result in distortions in the economy. They also lead to official distribution of wealth in favour of a few people with access to the corridors of power.

The ongoing probe of about 53 companies by the EFCC for alleged violations of foreign exchange regulations illustrates, once again, what can happen when governments intervene in transactions which, in more enlightened nations, are left strictly to the private sector. What was not an offence under Jonathan and Buhari is now a serious crime under Tinubu – for which the companies and their owners might pay dearly. Politics and economics seldom mix very well under hostile politics. The current attack on firms will produce unintended consequences. Just wait.

However, while it is vital to warn fellow Nigerians about the looming disaster, the main point of today’s article is to draw attention to an ongoing tragedy affecting millions of our people on account of increasing scarcity of prescription drugs and the predictable escalation of prices. All segments of society are at risk. Millions of us, including me, are, literarily, on death row on account of drugs.

On December 30, 2023, in my annual forecasts for next year, the following was the forecast: “2024 in Nigeria will be characterised by three words: SCARCITY, FAILURE AND CHAOS.” Right now, the focus is on scarcity of drugs. Three case histories will demonstrate how grim the situation has become.

THE INFANT, THE YOUNG MAN AND GRANDMA

“There is no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way it treats its children” – Nelson Mandela, 1913-2013.

I live near a children’s hospital. That means being present as infants and children on Nigeria’s ‘Death Row’ pass on and the hopes of parents get dashed.

A typical scenario is this. A baby is brought by desperate adults to the hospital. After emergency treatment, the doctors ask the parents to go and get certain drugs very quickly. The chemist very close to the hospital delivers two sentences: the price and the non-availability at the moment. The parents don’t have the money; they rush to beg for it. If fortunate to get the money, they start running around to get the drugs. They return to the hospital to be told “I am sorry the baby passed away”.

Early evenings would sometimes find me sitting near a popular chemist, name withheld, near the General Hospital, Island Maternity Hospital and St Nicholas Hospital, Lagos Island. It has been a vantage point from which to observe how drug scarcity and steep prices are shaping our lives – or, more appropriately, our deaths. Like a lot of things happening under our noses, without attracting attention, it requires one incident to open our eyes to history in the making.

A young troublesome thug and illicit drug peddler was rushed in unconscious after a brutal fight. He was stabbed several times and had lost a lot of blood. Blood transfusion was inevitable, as well as other things. The hospital gave the estimate; his colleagues actually rallied round and paid the money. But, the blood bank didn’t have his type of blood; and they were certainly not going to accept blood from the addicts who brought him. They were still busy trying to decide how to get blood when he passed on.

Grandma, adorable like most others, had a daughter and son taking care of her needs. She was assailed by diabetes, chronic hypertension and cataract. Her children sent her money every three months for all her needs – including the prescribed drugs. Then, son lost his job and daughter’s stipends were no longer enough. Another shock awaited her when it was time to replenish the prescriptions. Prices had gone up astronomically. Unable to ask her children for more money, she decided to economise. Instead of twice a day she took one until she suddenly passed on. She was buried according to Muslim traditions.

In over twenty years of hanging around the chemist, I have never observed so many people rush in desperately to procure drugs, and stumble out perplexed because the drug required is “out of stock” as now.

ME TOO!

“Therefore, go ask not for whom the bell tolls/It tolls for thee [and me]” – John Donne, 1572-1631.

Battered by prostate cancer in 2020, I lost weight to the tune of N6 million in four months. Discharged, a post surgery list of drugs was handed to me; N120, 000 a month must be spent to keep death away. Gradually, the bill climbed; but, at first the drugs were readily available. Today, the bill is a hefty N250, 000 a month, or N3 million for 2024. That is bad enough. Until November 2023, I was on DUODART (GSK) when it suddenly became “out of stock”.

DUTASIN came to the rescue for a month; and then vanished. DUOSTAM is the new lifesaver; how long it will be available is unknown. Obviously, like me and others who escaped the Grim Reaper on the operating tables, millions are on Death Row two ways – find N3 million; then pray you find the drugs. The cost of living keeps going up. Who knows, by June I might be searching for N300, 000 or even N350, 000 just to swallow drugs which might not even be available. I represent millions of Fellow Nigerians who might join the “Saints Triumphant” or the “Devil’s Departed” who might pass on for no other reason than the drug prescribed is “out of stock”. Money sometimes can be useless in Nigeria.

The truth is, millions of us are at risk this year on account of scarcities of things we have taken for granted all our lives. The Tinubu administration is up to its arm-pits in a swamp full of alligators, Emilokan has no clue about what to prioritise and consolidate. That was why he took time to go to Dubai with fleet-load of clappers for COP28 where he was redundant. I introduced and taught a course at the Nigerian Institute of Management, MIN, in the early 1990s titled TIME AND SELF-MANAGEMENT because time is the most important resource a President – must conserve as much as possible. Tinubu failed the first test of a good manager by going to Dubai. He failed the second test by joining others to waste our scarce financial resources. Nigeria is not Lagos State.

BUHARI’S BABES AND TINUBU’S DAMSELS

“What a man can do, a woman can do better” – Feminist leader, Boston, USA.

How I wish Betty Friedan, 1921-2006, American feminist leader and author of the book THE FEMINIST MYSTIQUE is alive today to observe how her statement made in Boston, USA, in 1970, has become true in 2024 in Nigeria.

Former President Buhari spent his entire eight years in office castigating Jonathan’s government for corruption. One would have thought that no appointee of Sai Baba would ever be accused of stealing a paper clip – particularly the women. Well, things are not always what they seem.

Three of Buhari’s female appointees are proving to us that, indeed, what a man can do a woman can do better – including corrupt practices. One woman privatised employment in the Federal Civil Service and brazenly sold appointments while Buhari was in office. The second performed a miracle better than that of Jesus feeding 5, 000 people with five loaves and two fishes. The ultimately humane Minister fed millions of school children locked up in their parents’ homes. That deserves a place in the GUINESS BOOK OF RECORDS. The third Buhari female appointee, like the second, allegedly, made huge funds, which no reasonable person can spend in 1, 000 years, to disappear into private accounts.

Just as Nigerians were, at last, understanding that Buhari was a hypocritical corruption fighter, Tinubu very quickly tossed in his own nominee for Scammer of the year Award. Emilokan’s female candidate followed the steps of Buhari’s Babes – with a new twist. Instead of running around several banks, she saved time by dumping the entire N585.2 million in one private account. That was neat. At least, we now have an idea what is in store for us until 2027.