By Paschal Norbert
LAGOS, JULY 15, 2025 (CISA)- As Nigeria buries its former President Muhammadu Buhari today, July 15, 2025, in solemn mourning, the nation is once again confronted with a stark and unresolved national crisis, its failing healthcare system.
In a heartfelt and sharply critical statement, Most Rev. Alfred Adewale Martins, the Archbishop of Lagos, lamented the late president’s death in a London hospital, using the moment to call for an urgent overhaul of Nigeria’s healthcare infrastructure.
In his statement that doubles as both condolence and indictment. He expressed sympathy for the family of the late president but didn’t shy away from addressing the systemic failure that his death exemplifies.
“We commiserate with the entire family of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari and all others who mourn as he is buried today, 15th July 2025. May God grant him eternal rest and consolation to all who are saddened by his death,” Archbishop Martins said.
The prelate’s words, though prayerful, were not without pointed critique. Buhari’s death in a foreign hospital, Martins argued, lays bare the persistent failure of successive Nigerian governments to invest adequately in domestic healthcare infrastructure, an irony not lost on citizens who face daily medical struggles at home.
“His death in a London hospital brings into focus again, the need to develop healthcare delivery and facilities in our country in order to stem the tide of medical tourism,” he stated, noting “This anomaly does not only drain the purses of those who can afford it, but more importantly, it also deepens the pain of those who cannot afford medical treatment overseas. They are left with the feeling that they are being left to die even from the most easily treatable illnesses.”
This observation speaks to a widening gulf between Nigeria’s privileged political class and the common citizen. Archbishop Martins pointed out that even during Buhari’s presidency, his own wife, former First Lady Aisha Buhari, publicly decried the poor state of the State House Clinic, an institution that should, in theory, represent the pinnacle of Nigerian medical care.
“If the former First Lady could lament at the poor state of the State House clinic during their tenure, one can only imagine the state of clinics and hospitals meant for the common man. It is indeed a shame that the death of President Buhari makes it the second time that the President of our country would die in hospitals overseas,” he said.
Martins’ statement was not merely a critique of the past but a passionate call to action for the present. He urged Nigerian leaders at all levels to treat the moment as a wake-up call to rebuild a crumbling system and re-prioritize the health and dignity of every Nigerian, not just the elite.
“The death and burial of former President Buhari should ginger our governments at all levels to wake up to the need for doing something strategic in order to improve the healthcare delivery and the facilities needed in our country,” the Archbishop stressed.
Of equal concern to the Lagos Archbishop is the ongoing brain drain in Nigeria’s health sector. With increasing numbers of doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers emigrating in search of better conditions abroad, a phenomenon popularly referred to as “Japa”, the country finds itself in a medical crisis of both personnel and policy.
“His death is also a wake-up call to find ways of dealing with the issues that lead to the brain drain that has impacted the health sector very badly and continues to impoverish healthcare delivery in the country. Nearly every health care professional is waiting for an opportunity to Japa and use their expertise to care for peoples of other countries,” he said.
“Ironically, many times it is the same medical professionals that should be taking care of us in the country that people meet in hospitals that they go to abroad,” the prelate chastised.
However, Archbishop Martins expressed hope that President Buhari’s passing might finally trigger long-needed reforms in healthcare delivery, not just as a matter of infrastructure, but of national conscience.
“May the death of former President Muhammadu Buhari be the catalyst for bringing about the necessary improvement of the state of healthcare delivery in our country,” he admonished.
