Professor Abiodun Jesse Otegbayo is the Chief Medical Director of the University Teaching Hospital (UCH), Ibadan. He turned 60 last Thursday. He shares the experience of his humble beginning, his rise to prominence and situations in the nation’s health sector with SADE OGUNTOLA.
What was your growing up like?
I was born in Ghana. I had my primary school at St. Peters Primary School, Accra, Ghana, before we returned to Nigeria in 1969. On returning to Nigeria, my father became a pastor and my mother, a deaconess. The tradition of the church at that time was that the pastor’s wife must not work. They were expected to live in a Mission House. Fast forward, my father died when I was in Form Two. You could imagine what that means for a man whose wife was a full time housewife. We were eight children and I am number four among my siblings. As God would have it, I changed my school from Ila-Orangun to a school in my home town, Ilesha. It happened that one of my uncles who was very rich, Chief Bayo Otegbayo, had his house next to the secondary school where I was.
So, at the end of the term in my Form Three, they were giving prizes and they were using loud speakers to call names of the winners. Fortunately, for me, he was at home that day and he was hearing my name repeatedly. I collected nine prizes. I was the best overall student in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and even in some other subjects. So, he was impressed. He sent for me and asked me to sit on his lap and he told me that he could see that I was all-rounder.
He encouraged me that I could study Medicine. Before that day, I never thought of Medicine. I didn’t even know what to do with my life. He said he was going to change my school and that was how he changed my school to Command Secondary School, Kaduna. I finished secondary school in 1983 and gained admission to the University of Ibadan same 1983. Six years after, I became a medical doctor. When I was a student, I used to see some doctors called consultants and I said I would like to be like them because of the authority they wielded.
I enquired on how to be a consultant and they told me I had to come for residency. I had that in mind and during my NYSC, I started studying for the first phase of the examination to be part of them in the residency. During my service year, I passed the examination and I became a resident doctor in 1992. Five years after, I became a specialist. Again, I saw people being called professors during my residency and I thought I could be one of them. I also made enquiry and I learnt I had to be an academic staff and God helped me. As they say, the rest is history today.
At 60, do you have any regret?
No regret. I must thank God for my life. I am living with good health and that is enough to appreciate God. Actually, I never knew I was going to live up to this age, because I have history of untimely death in my family. My father died at the age of 46. His father died earlier. We are not sure but we heard he died as a very young man. My father was the only child because his mother died during his child birth. That was why they named him ‘Akanbi’ meaning an “only child we gave birth to.” It is usually registered in my mind that I may not live long. So when I turned 40, I did a birthday party. When I turned 50, I made it louder. I rented Premier Hotel to appreciate God, not because I wanted to throw away money but if I have this bad history and God is helping me to get to this age, I have to thank God. At 60, I would have loved to do the same thing but unfortunately, the circumstances I found myself does not permit that. I want to make it quiet and solemn. So, no regret at all. God has really taken me to where I never thought I would be in life. I am the first doctor and the first professor in Otegbayo family. Will anybody have that kind of grace and regret? No.
Can you remember any trying moment in your life?
Yes, the trying moment was when my father died. At that time, being an only child of his own parents, we didn’t have any family around us. So, when he died, it was like the whole world had crashed on me because he was the only one we knew. Like I said, it was a divine design that my uncle just took me up. I only knew him as Chief Otegbayo, our relation but no relationship. That was a trying moment for us because for a man to leave eight children with a widow, it won’t be easy for any of them.
Can you remember any remarkable event while growing up?
The only thing I can refer to as remarkable is that God helped me to pass my exams at first attempt and in flying colours. This is because if someone is being sponsored by people who are not his parents, it is very easy to say, go away. But if God is helping you and the person is seeing his investment yielding results, there is likely to be more commitment. I will see that as being remarkable, otherwise one would have been forgotten. To make it clear, even when my father was alive, there was a time after my primary school in 1973 when my older siblings were in school and there was no free education then, so my father could not afford to pay my school fees as the fourth child. He had to give me to one of the church members to stay with them. Mr. Ezekiel was his name. He was a trader. He was dealing in bicycle accessories, wristwatch and also engaged in repair of bicycles. So, I learnt that trade.
At that time, people were thinking I was his apprentice but I never registered as one. I stayed with him for three years. I could fix any bicycle and also fix wristwatches. Not the digital wristwatches we are using today. One remarkable thing about it is that his own children were going to school. But I would stay in the shop sell and repair things. One day, I damaged the bicycle of one of his customers while trying to repair it and the man was a short fuse. He was so angry. Immediately he came, I knew I was in trouble and I was ready for it. So, he went to the bicycle and saw the damage I did to it. He asked me to come close to him but I have discovered from the tone of his voice that he would descend heavily on me. So, I didn’t go. He then threw a plier at me. If the plier had hit me as a small boy, it would have wreaked havoc on me. So, I ran away to my mother.
At that time, my father was not at home. He was attending pastors’ meeting in Ilesha. So, the man came and reported me to my mother, but my mother was calm. She told him that when my father returned, he would pay for it. When my father came back, they settled it among themselves. I didn’t know how it was settled. That was when my father asked me what I wanted to do with my life. I told him I wanted to go to school. I didn’t know how it came. I didn’t say I was going back to the man, but I told him I wanted to go to school. Maybe he could have returned me to the man if I had said I was going back. When the time for examination came, my father took me to Modern School, Ila-Orangun. I spent one year there. In second and third terms, I took first position. I was able to pass entrance examination to Ila Grammar School. While in Form One, I was the best student. In fact, I won prize of N10 in Mathematics and some books. N10 was big money at the time. That was Form One. Unfortunately, for me, my father died while I was in Form Two. The rest of the story is what I narrated earlier. I would probably have become a bicycle or wristwatch repairer or even a trader.
What were your expectations when you set out as a medical doctor and are those dreams, expectations met at the end of the day?
I had dreams and expectations. I wanted to be a physician. In fact, I wanted to be a cardiologist, a heart specialist, which I never became. By the time I got into residency, for one reason or the other, I wasn’t able to do cardiology because there were too many people there. The chief resident then said some of us who just passed examination should go to GIT, Gastroenterology but none of us was ready to go for certain reason best known to us.
But after some time, when the man refused to promote us, I decided to go. I believed it was God’s design. Initially what I had in mind was to be a doctor and after graduation, I should look for a village where I can practise but as I proceeded in medical journey, my dream changed based on what I see around.
My environment changed my disposition to what I wanted to become in life. There is no dream I have in life that has not been fulfilled.
With all your dreams, were there people who served as role model for your aspiration?
When we were medical students, we used to see how consultants used to carry themselves. In fact, at a point, I had to imbibe the habits of some of them. Some of our professors used to smoke pipe. I tried it also but I couldn’t sustain it. But the like of Professor Akinkugbe really impressed me when we had ward round; his teaching, charisma, dictions, British ascent, and things like that. I wanted to be like him. When I became a resident, I had to read his CVs, publications, and so on. Professor Osunubi and Professor Shokunbi also serve as my role models. So those are the people who impressed me. God also used Professor Falase for me too.
How have you been able to combine your professional life with social life, including your home?
People say anything you have interest in, you must find time for it but I must say I don’t have much of social life. It is not a disease that I don’t have social life. Most doctors don’t have social life also. Only a few do, but I don’t know how they do it. You really need to be aggressive about it before having a social life because the workload is too demanding and it is so much that the little time you have, you will like to use it to rest. I don’t have much of social life, but for the home, I give glory to God that my wife is such a peaceful woman. She is a partner per excellence. She doesn’t give me trouble. Our children also don’t give us trouble. This made it easy for me to go in line with what I have projected for my life.
Looking at the medical situation in Nigeria when you started and now, is there any improvement?
There is a decline in the quality of health services from the time I started practising as a doctor and now. But recently, with the advent of COVID-19, our inadequacy in health sector was exposed and the government of the day took a bold step to make what they called special intervention in the health sector. Some amounts were released to almost all the tertiary health care institutions to upgrade our system to be able to cope with emergencies and critical care like ICU and laboratories. In fact, about N980million were spent on each of these hospitals. With that, we are now going in the right way to improve our health care system. If the trend is sustained, it will be better for us. One of the challenges we are having in the country is sustainability of good programmes. We should not make it a one-off intervention but rather, it should be a persistent one. If we can increase our budgetary allocation to 15 per cent that African Union agreed to in 2001 which Nigeria is signatory to, it will improve our health care system.
What are the things we can do to restore the old glory of health institutions in the country?
Restoration will come in three ways. First is the working environment. You need to create an ambience that is conducive for working environment. People want to wake up and be happy that they are going to work. Beautification of environment; when you go abroad, these are the first things you will see that will entice you. Secondly we need to equip the hospitals. Standard equipment must be in place. Many of the medical tourism we are talking about, it is not because of the physical skills of the individuals but because of the equipment they have that can pin down the diagnosis to aid treatment. Third is remuneration. If you don’t have a salary that cannot take you home, you are not likely reject any offer.