The inward moulds the outward. The power of a people lies in its mind: and this mind, if fortified and enlarged, will bring external things into harmony with itself It will create a new world around it, corresponding to itself. If, however, .I err in this belief, if by securing time and means for improvement to the multitude, industry and capital should become less produoiiue, I still say, sacrifice the wealth, and not the mind of a people.’
- Health Services
Health is the foundation and fountain of a full and happy life. It is indispensable to every truly successful venture or enterprise. Other things being equal, the healthier a person is, the more productive and more useful he is as an economic agent and as a member of society. Indeed, we regard health as so paramount that we are prepared to give and do anything to secure it, whenever its loss is threatened, such as when we are in a state of serious ill-health.
The WHO has given an authoritative definition of health with which I fully concur. It says:
‘Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well- being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.’
This definition explicitly emphasizes the positive and preventive rather than the negative and curative approach to health. How then do we, in practice, achieve this’ state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing?’ I gave the answer in extension in Chapter 9 of The People’s Republic under the title of ‘Mental Magnitude.’ Nevertheless, and for the benefit of those who are unable, for financial reasons, to buy a copy of The People’s Republic, I propose to make a very short resume of what I have said on this subject, with a few additions of detail which have occurred to me since writing The People’s Republic.
In order to enjoy good health at all times, we must do certain things habitually. That is to say, we must breathe fresh air; drink good water; eat food which is adequate in quantity and quality, and appropriate to our individual vocation; live in a room or house which is well- ventilated, decent, water-and wind-proof, and free from overcrowding; wear dress which is clean, adequate, and suited to our climate; make our environment sanitary and hygienic; think and entertain only constructive thoughts and positive emotions: and always treat others as we would like them to treat us.
The Government has a duty to every citizen to assist him or her to do all these things, in order that he or she may enjoy good health at all times. In discharging this duty, the Government must proceed on the following lines. In the first place, it must see to it that the air is not polluted either by factory smoke or by the smell of putrefying matter or of undisposed sewage and refuse.
In the second place, clean pipe-borne water must be provided free for all citizens. This proposal is not as alarming, financially, as it sounds, In the Western State where the supply of pipe-borne water per capita is the highest in the country outside Lagos State, the capital and recurrent costs of this essential service work out at about 6/- per capita per annum of the population in the State so far supplied with pipe-borne water. With intelligent planning, we should be able to supply all our people with clean pipe-borne water in a matter of fifteen years. This would be a wonderful achievement. Three-quarters of the ailments which afflict Nigerians, we are told, are water-borne. It follows, therefore, that the provision of clean water for all our people will save them completely from these ailments, and so increase their productivity and income as well as their zest for life. In the third place, the Government must create an economic condition, and stipulate a national minimum wage, which would enable every Nigerian citizen to earn enough to secure good and adequate food, shelter, and clothing.
In his long pageant from his remote ancestor who lived 25 million years ago, or from his immediate ancestor-the early homo sapiens- who lived over 1 million years ago, to the present day, man’s major preoccupation is food and shelter 100,000 years ago, he still had enough hair on his body to give it warmth and protection, and, therefore, did not bother about clothmg. Even today, many when are quite atavistic about their dress! For more than half-a-million years ago, man is known to have lived in caves. Food and shelter, l.n that order, are, therefore, of paramount importance to man. This is why, in most developed countries, both are often subsidised, in order to enable those in the lower income group to obtain them in sufficient quantity and quality.
In Nigeria today, the average citizen is terribly undernounshed, and the house in which he lives is wretched, to say the least.
According to Table 1.5 of Economic Indicators Vol. 5 No.1 of January 1969, FOS, Lagos, the average per capita weekly expenditure on food ‘in the rural areas (i.e., among manual workers) in 1963/64 was 3/ 6d. At this rate, a husband and wife plus one child would probably spend about 9/- a week on food. For this same size of family, the Morgan Commission, in its Report, pubhshed in 1964, at p. 20, recommended between 15/- and 22/6d a week. Furthermore, according to Dr A. Omololu, Director of the Food Science and Applied nutrition Unit of the University of Ibadan, a labourer or manual worker, resident in a Southern State, living alone, buying cooked foods, and entertaining no friend or relative, needs as much as 3/9d per day to enable him to satisfy the following basic food requirements:
Calories 3,000-3,500.
Protein 70 grammes.
Iron 10 milligrammes.
Thiamine 0.9-1.2 mgs ..
Riboflavin 1.2 mgs.-l.7 mgs.
Ascorbic Acid – 30 mgs-70 mgs.
and then