By Juliet Umeh
To move the scientific and the medical fields forward in Nigeria, an Obstetrician/Gynaecologist, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi has urged government at all levels in Nigeria to engage the private sector as partners, not as competitors.
Ajayi who is also the Managing Director, Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos, said the private sector should drive the needed change and then the government can come in.
Speaking with Vanguard in an interview while receiving an outstanding alumni award by College of Medicine, University of Lagos tagged: “Medilag Alumni High Table and Fund Raising Dinner” recently, Ajayi advised the government to be intentional about making progress in science and technology.
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He said: “The private sector will be the one that will start driving this change and then the government will have to come in. But right now, we don’t get it right; we need to be intentional about making progress in Science and Technology.
It is no longer very difficult in the sense that some people have already done these things and what I see is that technology is either you copy, steal or you buy.”
He identified brain drain as another challenge in the sector.
“One of the problems we are having now is that doctors are not staying in Nigeria. We know the numbers have grown slightly, but training institutions have not really grown too much. One of the things I keep saying is that, yes, there may be a small problem but there’s always a solution, there is always an opportunity in that problem.
“One of the problems is that everybody wants to stay in Lagos and Ibadan. But there are training institutions in Akure, Osogbo and others not as choked as Lagos.
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“More importantly, doctors now need entrepreneurial skills because anywhere there are 190 million people; there are a lot of opportunities. I think the minds have to shift from government must provide everything to what we can provide with the skills that we already have.”
Commenting on the award, Ajayi said: “Well anytime your constituency, especially your trainers decide to give you an award, it is something that should be appreciated. So this is a very good night for me. Hence the people who trained me decided to say I am doing something right and they gave me an award.”
He said Nigeria still has a lot of people who should be celebrated because they are not mediocre and can stand shoulder to shoulder with anybody anywhere in the world.
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Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.