Must we build a new clinic for Aso Rock?

One interesting feature of Government budgets is that they tend to increase

even when incomes are falling.

An aspect of the 2022 Nigerian budget that has caught my attention is the aspect of a new Clinic for Aso Rock.

I recall the case of late President Shehu Shagari's salary. The gentleman opted for 25,000 per annum against the 30,000 he was offered.

At the end of the day, he had to accept the 30,000 because, the other Government functionaries reasoned that his salary being the benchmark, 25,000 will constrain them.

In this case of Aso Rock Clinic, it could be that PMB'S subordinates are up to something.

Those who know me know that I once rooted for PMB. That was then.

The PMB I rooted for may be pressured into accepting the new Clinic.

Though, I did not know the PMB I rooted for, as much as his critics.

Going by PMB'S records, I shudder to think that this is another big surprise.

Aso Rock has a clinic that is nothing to write home about. Building a new one in the face of mounting and unsustainable debt should not be the solution.

An ego trip should for now be the least of our worries. In my layman's thinking, a house does not a hospital make but personnel and equipment.

Did not Ngige say we have enough doctors and therefore some doctors were free to join the foreign train?

So personnel may not be the problem with the Aso clinic but could it therefore be the building?

Could the building be responsible for inability of Aso clinic to treat PMB? This is granted that the new Clinic should be able to treat him and save us some dollars.

But I think not. The money for the new Clinic whose design could be quite expensive, should be ploughed into equipping the existing clinic.

Many are the people voting with their feet against Federal Institutions of learning for poor funding and yet new ones are springing up.

Health is too important to be treated with the same levity. 

The money voted for the new Clinic should go into equipping the existing clinic. Perhaps it will then meet the needs of our number one citizen. 

If the voted amount cannot upgrade the old to meet his needs, spending the whole amount on a new one should further fall short.

After all a building does not a hospital make but the equipment.