Wanted: Crazy Nigerian Politicians
Where are the Crazy Nigerian Politicians? I expect some of the not too popular political parties in Nigeria would be full of "Crazy" people . I mean positively Crazy like the Green Party of the United Kingdom for instance. Look at the Green Party, they state amonngst other things they would abolish the Monarchy in Britain and Get the Queen of England a council Flat. Herbet Hoover in the U.S. Presidential campaign promised a Chicken in every pot and a Car in every Garage and he meant it because he saw American Capability, Chike Obi ,maverick Mathematician and Politician when he was campaigning in the early 1960s said he wanted to take Nigeria to the Space Age that was quite ambitious because the Space age only started in 1957 with the launching of Sputnik the first artificial satellite i., Yoruba Nationalist Bola Ige who made it to the point of being a presidential aspirant said he wanted to make Nigeria the first Black Super Power.
It seems in Nigeria if people think you are Crazy they avoid you. Nigerians do not encourage what could be called a deviation from the Normal. There is a Yoruba Proverb which states that if you want to know how to Dance observe you peers but from what I have seen of Americans they like people with seemly crazy ideas. You are enjoined to do something Crazy.. Its what one of my Professors, Ebun Oni a Physicist terms as "the inhibition of individualism in African Society".There is too much pressure to conform to the regular and ordinary; people do not like venturing into the unknown.
Its not exactly Crazy for Nigerian Politicians to talk about investing in Neuroscience. We are in the golden age of Neuroscience the discipline that studies the workings and functions of the Brain.
Like a Nigerian Neuroscientist, Professor Made Adeuja put it," The Brain is the conductor of the Human Orchestra" If the Brain is not alright it could cause the body to destroy itself(By suicide for instance) and it could also lead to harm of ,other persons and destruction of property and so in Medical School they
say if you fail Psychiatry, the discipline that deals with behaviour and mental disorder , you have failed every thing".Health wise Nigeria has failed
We have a Crisis on hand in Nigeria where there are an estimated 40 million Nigerian suffering from Mental Illness with an estimated 150 Psychiatrists to 174 million Nigerians.
In the United Kingdom there are 15,000 Psychiatrists for 63 million people and people are still complaining, At the Uk standard Nigeria would need more than 40,000 psychiatrists.
Every Year 100,000 Nigerians opt to Study Medicine in Nigerian Universities but only 5 per cent get admitted into Medical school
and we have a serious shortage of medical Doctors not only in psychiatry. Mental Health is said to cost the UK economy about 100 billion pounds a year. What about Nigeria? Poverty fuels mental illness and mental illness in turn leads to poverty.There are said to be 70 per cent of Nigerian living in poverty.
Talking of Public Health an estimated 119 million Nigerians are without Toilets. what are Nigerian Politicians going to do about ithese or are we leaving it to Bill Gates? Yes, Bill Gates is already working on Toilets in Africa. Some observers have opined that modern civilization started with the invention of the toilet.We should set very high standards for Nigerian politicians.