Tari Oliver campaign Organization, Lagos (2026)

04/10/2026

THE NIGERIA WE MUST BUILD
INDUSTRY TWO: HEALTHCARE

Should Getting Medical Care Put a Family in Financial Distress?

For many Nigerian families, illness comes with two difficult questions:
Where can we get treatment?
And how will we pay for it?

The World Health Organization reported that household out-of-pocket payments accounted for approximately 72% of Nigeria's current health expenditure in 2023.

That figure deserves serious attention.

When people must pay directly for most of their healthcare, some delay treatment, abandon prescriptions or exhaust savings meant for other household needs.A stronger health system must make financial protection part of its design.

This requires effective health insurance, stronger risk-pooling arrangements, sustainable funding for primary healthcare and accountability for how health resources are used.

Healthcare financing should be designed around the reality that illness is not always predictable and the ability to pay is not the same for every household.

A person's access to essential healthcare should not depend entirely on how much money they have available at the moment they fall ill.

That is an important measure of a fair healthcare system.

04/10/2026

THE NIGERIA WE MUST BUILD
INDUSTRY TWO: HEALTHCARE

Who Will Deliver the Healthcare We Want? We can build modern hospitals and equip them with advanced technology, but the quality of healthcare will still depend heavily on the people who operate the system.

Doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, community health workers and other professionals are central to healthcare delivery.

Nigeria's challenge is not only producing health professionals. It is also retaining them, supporting their development and ensuring they are available where people need them most.

A 2025 address by the Federal Ministry of Health highlighted a major distribution problem: about 75% of health workers were concentrated in urban areas, serving 45% of the population. That imbalance has serious implications for rural and underserved communities.

We must pay attention to working conditions, professional development, fair remuneration, staff welfare and the distribution of personnel across our health facilities.

A health worker who is overworked, poorly supported or posted where the necessary equipment is unavailable cannot deliver the quality of care we expect.

The healthcare workforce must be treated as essential national infrastructure.

⁰

04/10/2026

THE NIGERIA WE MUST BUILD
INDUSTRY TWO: HEALTHCARE

A Hospital Is Only One Part of the Health System.
When we discuss healthcare infrastructure, hospitals are usually the first thing that comes to mind.
But a functioning health system requires much more.

It needs well-equipped primary health centres, diagnostic laboratories, reliable electricity, medicine supply chains, emergency transport, referral networks and systems that allow health facilities to share information.

Consider a patient in a rural community who needs a specialist. The nearest health centre should be able to assess that patient, provide initial care and connect them to the right facility without unnecessary delays.

That connection is infrastructure too.
Nigeria's healthcare investment must therefore consider how facilities work together, not just how many buildings are constructed.

The real value of health infrastructure is seen in the patient's journey: how quickly care is accessed, how reliably treatment is delivered and whether the system can support recovery.

We must build a health system that connects care from the community to the specialist hospital.

01/10/2026

Today, we celebrate more than a state. We celebrate a great people.

A people bound by faith, love, courage and resilience. A people whose history is written across our lands, our waterways and our canoes. A people whose dignity has never sunk, even when the floods came.

As Bayelsa marks 30 years, we choose to count our gains, not just our struggles.

Our leaders have fought the good fight of faith. And today, we can proudly say we have built our own universities, our own airport, our own institutions. Our sons and daughters are shining across the world. Our land is once again known as the land of peace, and our culture remains a shining light in Africa.

We remember our heroes — especially our mothers.

Our mothers who bore the weight of this struggle. Who endured severe health conditions from oil spills in our creeks. Who paddled through polluted waters, who farmed on damaged soil, who survived harsh and painful conditions yet never stopped fighting to ensure their children would never suffer what they suffered.

They are the true face of Bayelsa's resilience.

As we step into the next chapter, may we look ahead with clear purpose and collective resolve with sound minds, shared purpose, and unwavering dignity. May the next 30 years bring progress that reaches the creeks, unity that heals our wounds, and opportunities truly worthy of our people.

*Happy 30th Anniversary, Bayelsa State! The Glory of All Lands! 💃💃💃*
*Happy 66th Anniversary, Nigeria!*

*Dr. Tari Oba*

28/09/2026

THE NIGERIA WE MUST BUILD

INDUSTRY TWO: HEALTHCARE

Healthcare: What Are We Measuring?

We often measure healthcare by what we can see.

How many hospitals were built.
How many beds were added.
How much equipment was purchased.

Those numbers matter. But they do not tell the whole story.

A healthcare system should also tell us whether people are receiving care early, whether primary healthcare is functioning, whether health workers have what they need, whether families can afford treatment and whether preventable illness is actually being prevented.

In Nigeria, out-of-pocket payments still accounted for about 72% of current health expenditure in 2023, according to WHO. That makes the question of access inseparable from the question of affordability.

So perhaps the better question is not simply:

How much are we spending on healthcare?

It is:

What is that spending changing in the life of the ordinary Nigerian?

That is where healthcare transformation must be measured.

26/09/2026

THE NIGERIA WE MUST BUILD

INDUSTRY TWO: HEALTHCARE

What if healthcare began before we needed a hospital?

A strong healthcare system should not only be waiting for people to become sick.

It should help prevent illness, detect problems early, provide reliable primary care and make treatment accessible when it is needed.

Nigeria is already placing renewed emphasis on primary healthcare, preventive care, health insurance, community health workers and stronger health data systems.

But the bigger question is how these pieces work together.

A health centre without the people to run it is incomplete.
A trained health worker without medicines and equipment is constrained.
A facility without reliable data cannot plan properly.
And healthcare that people cannot afford remains out of reach, even when the facility exists.

So what should the healthcare system Nigeria builds actually look like?

That is the conversation we begin next.

19/09/2026

THE NIGERIA WE MUST BUILD

INDUSTRY ONE: EDUCATION

Implementation Is Where the Real Work Begins

A good education plan should not end with a policy document or a newly constructed school.

It has to survive implementation.

That means the teacher must be prepared for the curriculum. The school must have the infrastructure to support learning. Technology must have a purpose. Funding must reach the intended programmes. What is built must be maintained. And, most importantly, we must be able to measure whether children are actually learning.

Nigeria already has education reforms that recognise several of these areas, including teacher development, digitalisation, TVET, STEMM, out-of-school children and quality assurance.

The question, therefore, is not simply what should we change?

It is:

How do we make the entire system work together long enough to produce the change we want?

That is the implementation conversation.

Because building the Nigeria we want will require more than announcing good ideas.

It will require systems that can deliver them, people who can execute them, resources that follow the plan, and accountability for the results.

So where do we begin?

We begin by defining the outcomes we want from education.
Then we assess the infrastructure, teachers, curriculum, technology and funding required to achieve them.

We build where the gaps are greatest, equip the people responsible for delivery, measure what changes, and continuously improve what is not working.

That is the roadmap: define the outcome → build the system → equip the people → measure the results → improve continuously.
Education transformation should not be treated as a collection of projects.
It should be built as a system.

And that is the standard we should begin applying to every industry we want to transform in Nigeria.

Education is only the beginning.

19/09/2026

THE NIGERIA WE MUST BUILD

A SCHOOL IS MORE THAN A BUILDING

If we are serious about changing education, we have to look beyond the classroom walls.

A school may have new desks, fresh paint and modern equipment. But if there is no reliable electricity, trained teachers, relevant learning materials or a system for maintaining what has been built, the infrastructure will eventually become another abandoned investment.

This is where implementation matters.

The school we build must be connected to the system around it.

Power.
Technology.
Teacher development.
Curriculum.
Safety.
Maintenance.
Learning outcomes.

Not as separate projects, but as parts of the same education system.

Because the real question is not whether we can build a modern school.

It is whether we can build one that continues to work.

That is the standard I believe we should begin demanding from education infrastructure in Nigeria.

07/09/2026

THE NIGERIA WE MUST BUILD

EDUCATION: WHAT ARE WE MEASURING?

We have spent years talking about access to education.

More schools.

More classrooms.

More children enrolled.

All of these matter.

But there is another question we need to ask:

What are the children learning once they get there?

A child can spend years inside a classroom and still leave without the foundational skills needed to progress. That is one of the uncomfortable realities Nigeria must confront.

So, as we imagine the school system of the future, I am beginning to think that the conversation cannot end with infrastructure.

A beautiful school building is not necessarily a functioning school.

The quality of the teacher matters.

The curriculum matters.

Learning materials matter.

Electricity and digital access matter.

Most importantly, the outcome matters.

Can the child read? Think? Solve problems? Create? Compete?

Perhaps this is where we need to shift the conversation.

From how many children are in school to what their education is actually preparing them to become.

The school Nigeria needs for the future must do more than accommodate children.

It must prepare them for life beyond the classroom.

This is the conversation I want us to have as we continue to examine the Nigeria we must build.

What is the biggest problem you believe Nigeria's education system must solve first?

Tari Oliver campaign Organization

04/10/2026

04/10/2026

04/10/2026

01/10/2026

28/09/2026

26/09/2026

19/09/2026

19/09/2026

07/09/2026

Address

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share

Other Lagos government services

Listing takedown request