... News Analysis
Suddenly the Pfizer/Kano State Healthcare Project Trust Board and the Meningitis Trust Board are under spirited attacks by Alhaji Mustapha Maisikeli of the Trovan Victims’ Forum, TVF. Various slanderous claims bordering on libel are being flaunted as evidence that the members of the two Boards are only interested in looking after themselves and taking care of their expensive tastes instead of dispensing cash to the beneficiaries of the Trovan settlement.
A critical analysis of the latest development and the undercurrents in Kano shows that the Board is being maligned because it has not lived up to the financial expectations of its critics in the TVF. Apparently, the TVF leadership expects to be compensated for having championed the cause of the patients for several years. At the beginning, observers thought that the TVF was an altruistic organization fighting on the side of the masses, but subsequent events have shown that it was a commercial proposition with the ultimate goal of profiting from the tragic circumstances of the ill-fated trials.
Alhaji Maisikeli’s main grouse, it seems, is that he was not carried along in the settlement process. In the local lingo of Nigeria, ‘carry along’ implies benefitting from the largesse. Its synonym is ‘settle’. The two Boards have not been able to ‘settle’ the leadership of TVF, hence the resort by Maisikeli and his lieutenants to open blackmail. Justice Wali inadvertently incurred further wrath of the TVF when, in answer to a journalist’s question during the handover of patients’ records by Pfizer to the Board in Abuja, he declared that the Board had no business with the Trovan Victims’ Forum and that each claimant would be considered individually and compensation cheques would also be handed over to each verified participant individually.
It is safe to assume, knowing the social framework and antecedents of the wolf-criers, that if they had been ‘settled’, we wouldn’t be hearing anything negative about the Board from their quarters now.
From all indications, especially judging from intelligence gathered by civil society groups in Kano, the insistence of both the Kano State Government and the pharmaceutical giants Pfizer on conducting DNA tests on claimants was the fatal bullet that dealt a death blow to the plans of the TVF kingpins. The way and manner Maisikeli opposed the DNA testing even after the Emir of Kano and other prominent citizens had supported its use, gave the game away.
Why would a man fighting on the side of the people oppose a procedure that would ensure that only genuine participants in the trials are compensated? The answer is that the man has his own agenda and his own list of fake beneficiaries. He had thought that it would be an all comers affair and that he could smuggle names into the official list and bulldoze his way into collecting compensation for those on his list irrespective of whether they were genuine participants or not.
Now that it is clear that the DNA test is inevitable and on course, the TVF’s next strategic move is to discredit the Board so that whatever the outcome of the ongoing process, there would be a shadow of doubt about the results and also about the midwife of the process.
Now, which way forward? The Board handling the compensation process should continue to ignore Maisikeli. He is not a Trovan participant and his claim that his children were victims can only be confirmed by DNA test which he is opposing. While calling on the Board to do everything humanly possible to fast-track the processing of claims and tests, we enjoin them to continue to be thorough and thick-skinned. Judging from his antecedents it is not likely that Maisikeli would relent. Rather he will intensify attacks on all concerned. The closer it gets to the final compensation payment, the fiercer his attacks will be.
The only way the Boards can discharge their duties creditably is to keep their focus on their assignment and be true to their conscience and their God. Insha Allah, only the true, verified, genuine, DNA-tested Trovan participants will receive compensation. That is the prayer of every Nigerian of conscience.
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5 comments:
Trust my country, we have done it again - showcasing our ugly underbelly to the outside world. As a mother, I feel for the trial victims but I find it reprehensible that some people see all this as business from which they could make money.
The Board should put its acts together and quickly do the DNA tests before releasing money to the real claimants. Every claim should be treated as suspicious until proven to be genuine through DNA test. We are monitoring how the process is being executed.
Thank you, Hajia. Those trying to make money from the Pfizer compensation are 419ers - i.e. obtaining money under false pretence.
Maybe this is why Transparency International categorises Nigeria as the second most corrupt country in the world. We are not helping matters with the way Maisikeli and his ilk are behaving.
Aha, but we shouldn't sleep with both eyes closed. We must monitor the Board so that the members won't be living like princes which most of them already are. Let them remember that this is about service to humanity and the fatherland.
Yes, the Board members ought to live above board, otherwise there is no hope for Nigeria. If it is found that they too are after money, we shall chase them out of town with out frying pans!
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