04/10/2026
General Abubakar Did Not Fail Nigeria, and Nigeria Did Not Fail Him
This is Jeffery Daniels, an American R&B legend and founder of the award-winning international soul group Shalamar. Nigerian journalists can fact-check what I am about to say.
Mr Daniels had an illness, which caused him great despair and anxiety. He sought treatment in the United States and the United Kingdom, but was told his condition was untreatable.
In desperation, he came to Nigeria and approached the National Hospital, Abuja. After a series of tests, he was placed on a therapy that completely cured his malady and restored his health.
Mr Daniels, a friend of mine, personally told me of his experience after he performed at a concert in Reading, England.
Why am I telling this story?
Because some Nigerians do not realise that Nigeria is now a leading centre for medical tourism, in fact, a specific name has been given to the particular type of health tourism happening in Nigeria.
It is known as Reverse Medical Tourism.
Please fact-check me: 15% of the patients now being treated in private medical facilities in Nigeria are foreigners from Europe and America, as well as some from other African nations.
For example, very recently, thirteen Americans flew into Nigeria to undergo kidney transplants at the Zenith Medical and Kidney Centre in both Abuja and Lagos.
About a year ago, former Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma travelled to Nigeria to receive life-saving treatment and only recently returned home. At the airport and on his return home, he had nothing but praise for Nigerian medical ingenuity.
British journalist Isha Sesay of CNN also publicly testified that coming to Nigeria for health tourism saved her mother's life.
After his unfortunate accident, former World Heavyweight Champion Anthony Joshua's team spoke about the medical care he received in Nigeria.
However, despite these feats, there are areas of medicine where other countries are better than Nigeria.
For example, while Nigeria is internationally renowned for kidney transplants and in vitro fertilisation, India is globally renowned as a leading destination for knee replacement surgery.
So, the fact that a former Nigerian leader visited India for such a procedure does not mean that Nigeria is a failed state or that Nigeria happened to him, just as the fact that several White Anglo-Saxon Americans receive kidney transplants in Nigeria does not make the United States a failed state.
While I do not want to mention names, because Nigeria has excellent diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom, and several former British Prime Ministers and royals have received medical treatment outside the United Kingdom.
This is to be expected. The world is a global village.
Coincidentally, the National Hospital, Abuja, which saved Mr Daniel's life, was built by General Abdulsalami Abubakar during his eleven months in office and commissioned on Saturday, May 22, 1999, a week before he handed over power to President Olusegun Obasanjo.
General Abubakar did not fail Nigeria, and Nigeria did not fail him.
Bemigho Reno Omokri
