Lecture Post

I thank the distinguished members of the Nigerian Medical Association, Anambra State, especially the members of the local organizing committee (LOC) for giving me this very rare opportunity to be the Guest Lecturer for the 5th Emeritus Professor Festus Aghagbo Nwako
(Obata Obie).
I never knew he enjoyed using traditional titles in addition to his well-deserved academic qualifications. However, his traditional title was truly deserved and befitting. Professor Nwako was an exceptional pediatric surgeon and a remarkable mentor who guided many of us. I hope we honor his legacy and continue his impactful work in the field. I also hope that we will soon write a biography of him, at least to document some of his great beliefs and sayings.
To the best of my knowledge, the late Emeritus Professor Okey Mbonu was the first guest lecturer. Okey worked as Nwako’s house officer, and the late Edet Nkposong (who passed away just 2 months ago), again to the best of my knowledge, was the first certified Urologist in Nigeria, was then the registrar. Their consultant at the time was the renowned Professor Fabian Udekwu, and this was at UCH in Ibadan before the Civil War.
The 2nd Lecturer was Emeritus Professor Martín Aghaji, my very good friend, who was a student under Prof. Nwako. Martin was a year ahead of us in the medical school, way back in UNN, in the seventies. The 3rd Lecturer was Professor Walter Nwafia, the former Provost. College of Health Sciences, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University.
The 4th was my trainer, another Emeritus Professor of Paediatric Surgery, Nene Obianyo, she was also a mentee of Nwako’s. She is the 2nd female surgeon in Nigeria, and the First female Emeritus Professor of paediatric surgery in sub-Saharan Africa. I happened to be, again to my knowledge, the longest-serving Senior Registrar in the paediatric surgical unit in the eighties, in UNTH, the reason for that longevity is a topic for another day.
The theme of the 5th Emeritus Professor Festus Nwako 5th memorial lecture is “EXCELLENT, RESILIENT, AND EQUITABLE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM AMIDST ECONOMIC DOWNTURN.” The Prof. Nwako I used to know stood for excellence, and if he were to be alive today, he would have told me “The Rolly, excellence is utopian in this here place today, replace the word excellent with the word pragmatic”. This topic is reminiscent of the lecture I gave in the 1st Dan. Nwankwo memorial lecture, in the year 2000 under the auspices of the Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas (ANPA), in Washington DC, “Making Healthcare Equitable in Nigeria: The Challenges.” We have not reached that milestone yet, and that is the reason this topic is like a recurring decimal. The question staring us in the face today is this: can we achieve this laudable goal during this inclement economic weather?

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PROFESSOR ROLAND IHEANYICHUKWU OSUOJI
BM,BCh, FMCS,FICS, FWACS
PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF PAEDIATRIC SURGEONS OF NIGERIA (APSON)
&
CONSULTANT PAEDIATRIC SURGEON, LAGOS STATE UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL (LASUTH), IKEJA, LAGOS, NIGERIA

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