By Temidayo Akinsuyi

A family friend of ours was admitted to a hospital in the United Kingdom last year. She had driven her children to school, but upon arriving, couldn’t get out of the car. Concerned parents alerted the school authorities, and paramedics quickly responded. She was admitted to the Royal Infirmary Hospital in Leicester.

When I visited her, she informed us the doctors diagnosed her with sciatica. It wasn’t life-threatening, so I assumed she’d be discharged soon. But I was wrong. She spent weeks in that hospital and was later moved to another facility for further treatment. During one visit, she mentioned that a ward transfer was delayed due to a lack of bed space. I was shocked. I had assumed such problems only existed in Nigeria.

That experience made me question why Nigerian leaders constantly fly abroad for treatment — often for non-critical ailments. If private care is what they seek, many top-tier Nigerian hospitals offer comparable services. Why then this unrelenting obsession with foreign hospitals?

Take the case of former President Muhammadu Buhari, who died at age 82 at the London Clinic. While I sympathise with his family, I find it troubling that he died in a UK hospital after years of receiving treatment there — an expensive habit reportedly costing £3,000 per night. More disturbing was the revelation by former Head of State Abdulsalami Abubakar, who said he had also been admitted to the same hospital around that time.

The repatriation of Buhari’s remains involved a federal government delegation led by the Vice President — another expensive, avoidable spectacle. All of it underscores the continued colonial mindset of Nigeria’s political elite: a dependence on former colonial powers for basic services their governments have failed to provide locally.

As Fela Anikulapo-Kuti sang in Colomentality:

“He be say you be colonial man. You don be slave man before. Them don release you now, but you never release yourself.”

Despite gaining independence in 1960, our leaders continue to behave like subjects. You sent the British packing, yet 64 years later, you still rely on them to treat your illnesses, as though liberation meant nothing. That is not just colonial hangover — it’s self-colonisation.

Tinubu and the Paris Pilgrimage

Buhari made London his hospital. Tinubu, by contrast, has seemingly adopted France. Since becoming president, he has visited France almost monthly under the guise of “medical tourism.” This is taxpayer-funded medical exile — and it echoes 2Baba’s lyrics from For Instance:

“Say emi ni Baale of Nigerians. Shey I go dey respect your own stance. Say I go create a scenery for better to plenty,
To dey make we dey give chance.
Instead of to dey pack the money go France
Dey make suffer to full in abundance”.

If Tinubu truly intends to make the fuel subsidy removal meaningful, why not invest in world-class public hospitals? Imagine equipping the University College Hospital in Ibadan or Federal Medical Centres across the country to match European standards — and actually using them.

Instead, the billions saved from subsidy removal were handed to governors, one of whom allocated N63.4 billion to renovate a Government House, while his state’s hospitals remain in ruins. This is not reform — it’s redistributed waste.

Ironically, it was Aisha Buhari — the late president’s wife — who called out this hypocrisy in 2017. She criticised the appalling state of the Aso Rock Clinic, revealing that even its X-ray machine didn’t work. She said she had refused to travel abroad for treatment and instead insisted on using a Nigerian hospital — a rare example of integrity.

Her daughter, Zahra, also condemned the lack of basic drugs at the presidential clinic, despite a ₦3 billion budget. So, where is the money going? Who audits it? No one. After all, those in charge don’t use the system they fund.

Yet these are the same leaders who, with every budget cycle, claim to prioritise healthcare. What they really fund is their exit route — first-class flights, private clinics abroad, and burial ceremonies that begin in Europe.

Even Coordinating Minister of Health, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, recently claimed that patients from the UK and US now come to Nigeria for medical treatment. That may be true — but only at elite private hospitals far beyond the reach of average Nigerians.

If foreigners trust these facilities, why can’t Nigerian presidents? Because colonial psychology runs deep.

As for the late Buhari, may he rest in peace. But let it be known: whether you seek care in London or Lagos, France or Abuja, death comes when it will. Would it not be better to strengthen the system so that everyone, not just the elite, can live a little longer and a little better?

To Mr. Femi Adesina, who once said Buhari would have died if he relied on Nigerian doctors — the people are reading, and they are not amused.

Temidayo Akinsuyi is a former group politics editor of Daily Independent and writes from Abuja. He can be reached on [email protected]