For many Nigerians, a minor illness can quickly become a financial crisis, while for thousands of young people, the lack of employable skills continues to narrow their chances of securing decent livelihoods.
It is against this backdrop that the newly installed President of the Rotary Club of Ikate, Rotarian Dominic Chukwuemeka, has called for an overhaul of Nigeria’s healthcare system and an aggressive expansion of skills acquisition programmes.
Chukwuemeka made the call in an interview following his investiture as the 40th President of the Rotary Club of Ikate, District 9112, where he identified affordable healthcare and skills development as two urgent humanitarian priorities for the country.
He said any meaningful effort to reduce hardship must begin with ensuring that poor and underserved Nigerians can access medical care without being pushed deeper into poverty by hospital bills.
Healthcare that ordinary Nigerians can afford
Chukwuemeka said the country needs a healthcare system that enables people to seek medical attention early, rather than waiting until an illness becomes life-threatening because of the cost of treatment.
“If I have the opportunity of meeting any Nigerian leader today, I would ask for two things within the humanitarian space.
“The first is to revamp the healthcare system in Nigeria so that healthcare would be affordable to all. We need a good healthcare system that will help us reach out to the poor and underserved, who cannot afford premium healthcare services.
“A lot of people die simply because they cannot afford the basic cost of hospital treatment. At least, typhoid can kill someone in Nigeria.
“If the healthcare system is improved and people can easily walk into a hospital to get themselves checked and treated, the high mortality rate will come down.”
Give young people skills, opportunities
Beyond healthcare, the Rotary president said Nigeria must treat skills acquisition as an urgent intervention for young people facing unemployment and limited economic opportunities.
He argued that providing youths with practical and marketable skills could improve their ability to earn a living while addressing some of the frustrations that contribute to youth restiveness and other social problems.
“Secondly, I am going to ask them to also aggressively deal with skills acquisition initiatives. That will help in bringing down unemployment and reduce the high level of youth restiveness and some of the behaviours you see on the streets.
“These are the two things I am going to ask our leaders to push for: the healthcare system and skills acquisition initiatives at a very high level.
“It should be given emergency treatment. That is what I am going to ask of any political leader, any good leader with conscience.”
For Chukwuemeka, the issues are ultimately about giving people a fairer chance to live healthy and productive lives — particularly Nigerians who are already struggling to meet basic needs.
His priorities place access to healthcare and opportunities for young people at the centre of the humanitarian response to poverty, unemployment and social vulnerability in Nigeria.
By Uche Uwadinachi
