Rivers State deputy governor, Dr Ipalibo Banigo; Chairman and CEO, St. Racheal’s Pharmaceutical Nigeria, Mr Akinjide Adeosun and Pa Patrick Amaechi have expressed worry over the low life expectancy in the country.
They said it is not only appalling but totally unacceptable that life expectancy in Nigeria which is 55 years on the average is far lower than that of other economically poor countries including Niger (63 years) and Ghana (64 years) let alone the developed countries like the United States (79 years) and Japan (85 years).
The gave this remarks at the second anniversary of St. Racheal’s Pharmaceutical Nigeria and the official launch of its new antibiotic brand in Lagos and virtually connected globally via Zoom.
The wife of Oyo State governor, Mrs Tamunominini Makinde; founder of JayKay Pharmacy, Mr. Jimi Agbaje; Secretary to the Oyo State Government, Mrs Olubamiwo Adeosun; the General Manager of Reddington Hospital Lagos, Mr Andy Cunliff and the Director of Administration, Office of Deputy Governor, Rivers State, Mr Ben Roberts were among those in attendance. The trio of HealthPlus Pharmacy, Prime Medical Consultants, PortHarcourt and Reddington Hospital group, Lagos, was also honoured with the professional excellence service awards by the pharmaceutical company.
Speaking as a guest speaker via Zoom on the theme of the event, “Improving life expectancy in Nigeria,” the deputy governor of Rivers State, who is a medical doctor and former director of public health services of the state, said she is particularly worried about the life expectancy situation in Nigeria which is the lowest in West African countries.
She said how we got to this sorry stage as a country is a function of many factors but categorised them into three- health, social and economic issues.
She listed inadequate and poor health facilities, the rampant various communicable and non-communicable diseases, inadequate potable water, high level of ignorance on some bad habits and cultural practices, poor personal hygiene, the poor state of roads, housing, as part of the problems.
On economic factors, she listed inequitable distribution of income and high level of unemployment among others.
She said many Nigerians are confronted with lots of worries that are causing stress and untimely deaths for them including payment of school fees, house rent, electricity bills, medical bills, generator fueling and repairs, power failure, feeding of families and dependents, clothing, police treat on the roads, armed robbery attack, terrorism, kidnapping as some of them.
She said despite all these, the improvement could still take place but would require holistic and sustainable collaborative efforts involving government at all levels, the private sector, service providers, individuals, the media, as well as the society.
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According to her, while the government will need to create a conducive environment for businesses to thrive, address the various challenges in the health sector in terms of facilities, equipment, manpower; curb preventable diseases, expand the health insurance scheme to cover the community, provide free ante-natal care for women and quality healthcare for all, control the population growth that can sustain Gross Domestic Products, tackle unemployment and close-up the wide disparity in income distribution between the rich and the poor so that many young adults will no longer depend on their parents for basic needs including feeding and clothing, provide potable and safe water, and so forth, service providers in the private sector should also continually provide services that will improve the living standards of the populace and thereby contributing to improving life expectancy in the country.
Speaking further, Dr Banigo also asked the media to keep bringing the issue of unacceptable low life expectancy in the country to the front burner, interrogate activities of government and service providers in taking appropriate actions to improve the living standards of people and also create more awareness on the need for stakeholders to work together to improve health and wellness of people.
Concerning the people, she said they too have great roles to play to live a fulfilled and long life.
She said it is unfortunate that so many people die from avoidable and treatable ailments just because of their ignorance or uncare attitude and bad habit practice and not necessary because of no resources.
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Explaining this, she said many expectant women for example die from preventable or treatable pregnancy-related complications because of late or non-presentation of self for medical attention or doing so in a wrong place.
While noting that adequate nutrition and food security are also important in this regard whereby people are able to eat fresh fruits and vegetables which they can easily grow in their yards, Dr Banigo also harped on the importance of people living in a good and safe environment and also observe good personal hygiene to keep bacteria and viruses far away.
She added that: “It is also necessary for retirees and even the young unemployed adults to continue to engage in physical and economic activities even if it is on voluntary basis rather than to stay idle at homes as there is always something around to contribute to the larger society.
“People should also live positive lifestyles and shun bad habits including smoking and consumption of alcohol and stale foods that won’t add value to life but damage it.”
Doing all these, she noted, would help greatly to change the narrative about life expectancy in Nigeria for better.
She, however, commended St. Racheal’s Pharma for what she called its immense contribution to the health sector, economy and humanity and urged it not to compromise high standards.
On his part, the second speaker, Pa Amaechi said living healthy and disciplined lifestyles, especially as regards what (and not what) to eat and drink and at what time and the volume, as well as engaging in physical exercises would be of great help to change Nigeria low life expectancy story for better.
The septuagenarian said what keeps him strong and healthy in addition to the grace of God at his age is that he watches what he eats and drinks and the time he does so and the quantity and that one does not need to be so rich to cultivate good healthy lifestyles.
Welcoming participants earlier, chairman of St. Racheal’s Pharma, Mr Akinjide Adeosun, said the company is not only interested in making money, but also in impacting positively on the people and the community where its operates, hence the seminar.
He said that is part of what informed the ability of the company to have come up with seven brands of antibiotic within two years of operations.
He said the company had a 20-year initial plan and would continue to create jobs for many Nigerians and retain its earnings in the economy for further expansion and humanity services.
He, however, urged both the federal and various state governments to without further delay declare free and compulsory quality and functional primary healthcare and basic education for the citizenry.
He said the two would help greatly in determining the quality of life and wellness of the citizenry.
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