The name Osahon Enabulele may not readily ring a bell to the average Nigerian. Perhaps, only the few who are involved in the politics of the medical profession within and outside the country would be familiar with it. But this 50-year old Nigerian physician has traversed the hierarchies of the local and international health sector associations to an extent that should ordinarily have garnered for him instant name recognition.
Enabulele currently works as a chief consultant in Family Medicine at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital. Beyond that, he is also president of the Commonwealth Medical Association (CMA) and the first medic of Nigerian and West African extraction to be elected as president of the World Medical Association (WMA) – a body established in 1947 for all medical doctors in the world.
For his new WMA post, reports said the Edo State-born physician beat Prof Muhammad Nizami, an orthopaedic surgeon and president of the Pakistan Medical Association, to emerge victorious after a voting process which lasted for nearly one week by members of its affiliate national medical associations.
At his age, Enabulele’s resume is as impressive as it is intimidating. After secondary education at Federal Government College, Wukari, in Taraba State (1982-1988), he was said to have proceeded to read Medicine at the University of Benin (1988-1996) before undergoing internship in the same institution (1996-1997) and serving in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme at a health facility in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State.
The WMA president-elect, whose tenure begins next year, is also a holder of Masters in Health Planning and Management (MHPM) and Fellow West African College of Physicians (FWACP). He was Edo state chairman of the Nigerian medical Association (NMA) from 2008 to 2010 and later, president of NMA (2012-2014). Over time, he was variously on the Management Boards of the federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu; University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital; and the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).
As NMA president, Enabulele is credited with successfully negotiating the unconditional recall of 788 medical doctors who were unjustly dismissed from service by the Lagos State Government in 2012. His executive committee fought for improved welfare, conditions of service and favourable salary adjustments for Nigerian doctors. He also saw to the establishment of a legislative desk for the NMA in both chambers of the National Assembly to help track bills and matters related to the association, among a plethora of other accomplishments.
Frankly, I have this knack for reading interesting personality profiles. But nothing had prepared me for the intimidating attainments and the accompanying accolades listed for Enabulele. In short, the man appears to have begun amassing awards right from his secondary school years and on to the present. A WMA post-election press statement described his latest feat as ‘a testimony to his global acceptability and profound recognition of his many years of hard work within the WMA, his profound intellect, sagacity and excellent performance in all responsibilities assigned to him, and his undeniable progressive contributions to the global body’.
Now, is it not absurd that this citation came from a world association concerning a physician whose entire training was at an institution in a country that has earned for itself a very low reputation on how badly it treats such professionals? Surely, the healthcare sector in Nigeria is in a shambles and has continued to suffer brain drain since the early 1990s. Low budgetary allocations to the sector had resulted in poor remunerations, denial of welfare entitlements, poor facilities and incessant protests. A recent example was the strike by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) between June and September this year during which over 350 doctors were reportedly licensed by the UK General Medical Council to reside and work in Britain following stalemated negotiations between the doctors and the federal government.
The figures would have far exceeded this had some persons suspected to be security agents not dispersed Nigerian doctors participating in a recruitment exercise by Saudi government officials at the Sheraton Hotel in Abuja, a week after the conclusion of a similar exercise in Lagos.
Rather than adequately fund the health sector in their country, Nigeria’s political leaders, a sizeable number of whom are experienced medics, prefer travelling overseas for medical treatment in countries where health systems are designed to function optimally.
Apart from poor salary and appalling working environment, insecurity is another major reason our medical personnel are emigrating en masse. For instance, here in Rivers State, about four years ago, medical doctors were so harassed by kidnappers that they began to see themselves as an endangered species. So much so that in the three months between March and June of 2017, no fewer than five doctors were abducted in the state, sparking a protest by consultants at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital.
Datonye Alasia was the state NMA chairman at the time. “We have become endangered species in Rivers State. We wonder why we suddenly became targets for attacks. As doctors, we do humanitarian work. We save lives; but here we are, fearing for our lives,” he had lamented.
Luckily, the police were able to arrest about eight suspects who reportedly confessed to have spent one month planning the abduction of one of the doctors.
Even with all the odds littering their professional path, there are still Nigerian doctors who are silently walking the ropes like Enabulele. Some have also been able to catch international notice like Chikwe Ihekweazu, erstwhile Director General of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) who is now Assistant Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
My advice for Enabulele is that he should ensure that the exposure resulting from these high-profile engagements rubs off maximally on his students who will now be holding fewer classes with their busy lecturer.

By: Ibelema Jumbo