During the Ibori era in Delta State, a property developer tried to work with the govt to get the owners of the Michelangelo Hotel in Sandton, SA to open a similar hotel in Warri. They sent one of their managers to do a site assessment. His conclusions were damning.

He said that Warri could not support the functioning of a proper 5 Star hotel because a hotel like that needs a support ecosystem to function which Warri lacks. It would be foolhardy to try to force it's creation within a community that doesn't get it and used to low standards

The reason that our Nigerian President and other family members will keep flying abroad for treatment is because they probably have realized that our healthcare problems may not be able to be fixed for one generation. It started over 30 years ago with devaluation and Saudi exodus

My uncle always says that a hotel is not the building but the service. A world-class hospital is not the equipment or buildings but the complete package together with people and the services around them to make them function optimally. An ecosystem like a 5-star hotel.

Doctors and nurses just don't have to be the very best and well paid, they will also need to live in places that make them comfortable and functional. A lot of the exit of talent from Nigeria is about living conditions affecting function and not just the salaries.

I left Nigeria primarily because of healthcare reasons. I found out that 10 years later, Ghana also started to have similar healthcare challenges. People are leaving because of salaries too. The thing is that Ghana is a better place to live and can easily reverse this problem.

I decided to live in Ghana because it is a much better place to lice and function as a professional. Nigeria is a place where you only go to make money as a professional while enduring the living conditions. Many have tried to live within bubbles to function but they burst too.

Many people are coming back from the Diaspora to set up second homes in Ghana. Some of those people are even Nigerian professionals. I forsee a situation soon when Ghana will become a medical tourism destination for Nigerians because an ecosystem can be built here.

These things are not rocket science and are based in strategy as well as design. African leaders are too old and their outlook is limited to trying to personally get the best out of their lives rather than create lasting national legacies. Even Ghana has those issues as well.

The Nigerian problem is complex. Generator noises and uncertainty are not attractive to people who are not masochists.

It all starts from electricity. A world-class institution and the ecosystem around it needs electricity and sanity.

I have determinate optimism about Nigeria but it gets tested daily. Healthcare innovation can create new markets and vice versa. Innovation in other areas is also another way to fix healthcare as it is a primary need. Everything has to work together as a system. It is not now.

Most people are leaving Nigeria because of their children. If I cannot trust that my children will turn out well by going to the same schools I attended, why should I bother?

A friend told me this in 2003. I eventually understood 10 years later when my son was born.

Everything in Nigeria cancels out the other. That is the main problem. It is a wicked problem.