President Jonathan, I Can Hear You

Last week President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria presented what he referred to as “the plans” that his administration will be implementing in 2011.

The President posted on his Facebook page what he anticipates the budget to help Nigeria to accomplish. Among the many things he said, the one that interests me most is what appears to be Mr. Jonathan’s commitment to fight malaria.

This is what he wrote:

“As part of the budgetary allocation to the health sector are funds to establish scientific research institutes that will focus on areas that directly impact health care in Nigeria such as HIV, Malaria, Cholera, sickle cell anemia and Cancer.”

He said he will work with his administration to tap the creativity of Nigerian scientists in solving the country’s greatest health challenges because

“some of these diseases are peculiar to Africa; they may not be a priority to the research institutes of governmental and private pharmaceutical research industries of the West.”

I could not agree with the President any more. One of our goals at talkafrique is to promote the idea that African problems must be solved by Africans and also that politics must be about problems and solutions and not just signboards and slogans. As Gen. Collin Powell said,

“You can’t just have slogans; you can’t just have catchy phrases. You have to have an agenda”

I believe on this, President Jonathan is on the correct path.

Malaria was eradicated in the US and Canada about 5 to 6 decades ago. It is laughable for us to expect American corporations to focus on malaria research and development in such challenging economic times while such efforts could be expended in the development of drugs that target erectile dysfunction. Malaria, like some other diseases, is referred to as a ‘Neglected Disease’ for a reason. No financial consultant or market analyst will encourage a client to borrow money to develop anti-malaria drug, except on humanitarian grounds. We salute the few companies that continue to screen for anti-malaria drugs and vaccines.

To us as Africans, malaria is a pressing issue. A child dies of malaria every 30 seconds in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is not just statistics

I hope that President Jonathan will stay true to his word. I will be checking his Facebook wall for updates. I will also be watching very carefully for what the Presidents of Ghana, Togo, Kenya, Botswana and the rest of our leaders have to offer.

Thanks for reading