Why 85 Percent Of Kwarans Living Abroad Are Pleased With Gov Abdulrazaq- Lateef Olaniyan
Dr Lateef Olaniyan, a pharmacist, is based in the United States of America.
Olaniyan, who received Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm D) from the University of Florida in 2007, is an indigene of Omu-Aran, Irepodun local government, Kwara state..
The pharmacist, who is known for being passionate about helping others, in this interview with Team@orientactualmags.comasserted that 85 percent of Kwarans living abroad will consider Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq’s approval rating very high because he is in their good books.
He also submitted that if given needed incentives and an enabling environment, university dons in the country can do exceedingly well when it comes to plant-based drugs.
Read On:
You are a pharmacist, and it has been discovered that seventy percent of the drugs that satisfy our healthcare needs in Nigeria are imported from China and they have simply made use of their plants , we have also learned that they hardly go under the knife these days, what can we do to make our country get to such a level?
Well, the way I see it, I think what we need is research and development because you cannot just go into the bush and get some herbs and think it is going to work without proving it, so it has to be evidence-based, that is what is needed.
We have a lot of intelligent people in Nigeria who are in the chemistry department, pharmacy depart and others, so if these people are supported and encouraged and they are given the capacity to work to develop the ingredients in the plants and what they can do, I think that will be a starting point.
You think those carrying out such researches in the universities had not gotten the needed wherewithal?
You know Iam not an academic but Iam sure if proper incentives are provided I don’t see any reason why they will not be encouraged to work towards such a goal because if you encourage people and you give them the proper incentives, definitely there must be good laboratories and equipment, they will be happy to develop all these drugs .
There have been different opinions about Nigerians leaving the country and traveling to other countries , some have called it ‘brain drain’, some are however of a considered opinion that it is about having opportunity to learn more and that what we should be talking about is how those people can transfer knowledge to those of us here, what is your take?
My take is this, you know there are different kinds of people if we have ten people not everyone of them will think the same way so I think background has a lot to do if you have a good background and you have empathy for the people there is no way that you will leave the country and just stay there without remembering that your people back home are suffering and if you have the knowledge and the capability to help them there will be no reason for you to stay over there and enjoy your life while your friends, family members and others back home are suffering.
There has to be something that everybody should be able to do to contribute I mean one tree cannot make a forest but whatever contribution you make if other people also contribute there is no way it won’t become a success and people will have a better quality of life back in Nigeria. With the knowledge that people in the Diaspora have, it will make a difference.
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It is said that you are a good-natured person and that you are passionate about impacting people’s lives positively, is this quality inherent or was it acquired?
Well, you know that if you acquire something in most cases it may not work like it will be if it is already part of you.
Iam passionate about it my own passion came after I got my Bachelor of Pharmacy from Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho in 1988 , I had later attended the University of Florida for my PhD in Pharmacy so I had left Nigeria since 1981 despite this, my mind was always here because I do believe that more people in Nigeria need help than people in America so whatever little help one can offer to support the people in Nigeria it is something.
So I have always been passionate about helping others but this was more apparent in 2004 after proceeding to the University of Florida for my PhD in Pharmacy.
I finished my PhD degree programme in 2007 so I decided to get a license in Nigeria because even though you want to help people in order to formalize it I had to get a certificate I can bring two or three bottles of aspirin to help my people but in order to reach more people if you have the certificate you are registered here you know about the local practice it will be helpful and because of that in 2007 I decided to get a license as a pharmacist in Nigeria which I currently have .
If you do not have your education in Nigeria and you want to practice, there is a programme organized by the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria that you have to undergo . it was held at the University of Benin and I attended the five-week programme there in 2007 in order to get a license so during that five weeks it really opened my eyes like I said I had been away since 1981 I only come home once in a while to spend a few days and leave but I didn’t get the real picture of things. During those five weeks I was able to see how medicine is practiced here and how pharmacy is practiced.
I had to travel from Benin to Abuja to the east and different parts of the country just to see people’s way of life and I found out that things are the same in every part of the country especially if you are not wealthy, if you are just a middle class or a low class person , things are extremely tough ad being a pharmacist I think the best way I could make impact is the pharmaceutical aspect because I don’t have enough money to give every poor person I thought well there is something I could do in the course of that I went to Abuja I met with some people and I was advised to go back to the United States to see if I can bring some health personnel for a medical outreach programme.
The idea was that it will be a two-day or a three-day thing just to impact a few numbers of people. So when I got back to Moses Lake where I live in USA, I told my colleagues in the healthcare sector and everybody was saying ‘Lateef , anywhere you want to go , we will go with you because we know you’.
Though Moses Lake is about ninety seven per cent white I know Iam black but never the less people have a lot of respect for me so they said ‘if it is you, definitely , we are going to go with you’ and before you knew it , it was already in the papers it wasn’t even me that did this but the people I talked to decided to talk to journalists and people were coming with donations , medications left and right I mean I was amazed myself so sixteen of us visited Nigeria in 2008 , we were able to help some people by attending to their health needs we used the Sobi Specialist Hospital as our base in Ilorin and we divided the team into two, some were in Patigi so from there the interest began to get more strengthened as a matter of fact the team members that came with me were the one recruiting people; surgeons and eye doctors so the first time we came with eight hundred pairs of glasses and since then we have been coming with one thousand six hundred pairs of eye glasses we have eye doctors that test people’s eyes , give them glasses, perform surgeries, bring a lot of medications worth several thousand of dollars mostly donated while we bought some that was how the whole thing started.
With all that you have done were there instances that people tried to make you venture into politics?
Maybe because Iam not a natural politician my intention is just to help people we have been here in Kwara state for medical outreach programmes on several occasions we have been to patigi, Lafiaji, Lagos state , Ibadan, Benin, Ogbomosho , Kebbi state . Whether people tried to influence me or encourage me to join politics or not Iam just focused on helping people, no distraction .
We were made to understand that you have gotten more encouraged because the current administration in Kwara state has provided an enabling environment?
I had never been more encouraged to help my fellow Kwarans than now and what has made this possible is because of the current administration in the state headed by Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq.
Even before becoming the governor, he came to Atlanta, USA to meet with some of us and listening to him and watching his actions, you will realize that you have to give him needed and necessary supports because he is doing what his predecessors had not done.
He listens to the common people and welcomes ideas, I mean not only in the aspect of health you want to talk about agriculture, things are improving , the roads are much better in every part of the state . Everyone is talking about road construction projects ongoing in the South , North and Central.
The media also reported how he offered free bus travel to students who were returning to public universities after the eight- month strike by ASSU.
He is not a governor that talks a lot; he does not say too much but his actions and what he has achieved within a short period of time speak for him. So because of what he is doing I know about health, pharmaceutical where I can make maximum impact and that is why Iam trying to do the best I can to help the governor to enhance what he is doing.
What next are you planning in respect of helping the people, do we expect to see an empowerment programme?
You see, whatever helps the people gets my attention, personally I have done borehole in my community I have renovated the primary school I attended back in the 60s, I was just passing by and I was not happy with what I saw so I was able to provide benches and tables for seven classrooms and I also renovated some of the classrooms. Whatever helps the people whatever is needed Iam ready to do because I consider myself blessed just for traveling out and not going through the suffering some go through in this country.
My mind is always here I think about my people every single minute . Yes, I may have comfort in America I don’t have problem getting cheeseburger or hamburger but I know some people are suffering so whatever I can do I try to help.
You said the governor has provided an enabling environment that got Kwarans living abroad to give back to society and that he has also done well, on a scale of 1 to 100, how many of them share this opinion?
If you are asking this question like seven years ago, I may say like twenty per cent but thanks again to His Excellency , Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, he appointed one of us as Diaspora focal person that whatever has to with Kwara state , ‘if you have questions or enquiries to make, please direct it to the focal person and I will address it’, which is reasonable and it was a good decision because it will be difficult and impracticable to handle, if people in Australia, Canada, UK and other places are trying to talk to the governor at the same time. So having a focal person has been extremely helpful , now people are able to direct questions, comments and concerns to the focal person and from the focal person, it comes to the governor.
To answer your question directly , because of what I have explained, things have gotten better so I will say eighty five per cent of the people that I talk to share this opinion. You know we are now more organized to give you an example is the container that we are bring into the country, if not because of the focal person that we are working with to make sure everything is well- coordinated, it would have been really disjointed Iam so happy that the governor appointed a focal person and we are able to do things in an organized way.
That is part of what we are doing now bring a forty-foot container containing equipment for hospitals and other health facilities in Kwara state into the country, that is the fruit of his labour.
You were honoured with the prestigious ‘Most Outstanding Kwara Indigene In The World’ award by the Kwara state government a few weeks ago, I attended the event, and all eyes had turned to the podium as everyone wanted to know the winner, you didn’t attend the awards ceremony but when you were informed how did you feel?
To begin with I won’t even lie to you I didn’t want to contest for the award because getting an award is not what my aim and objective is, my objective and purpose in life is just to help other people especially the less-privileged.
When the announcement was made I felt so humbled and there was tears of joy, I was speechless, I was so thankful and grateful to God and the people that took their time to vote for me.
You don’t see yourself people see you better than you see yourself so what that made me to do was to say to myself ‘Lateef , you have to do more than what you are doing, this is just the beginning if you have not even done anything and you got this kind of award not only that you have to maintain it but you have to increase what you are doing’
That is why Iam more energetic to help people that are less- privileged than me and by the Grace of God, I will continue to do this.
Who is Dr Lateef Olaniyan?
He is an easy-going man, humble, who basically want to help the less –privileged in the society.
I was born in Omu-Aran , I attended Saint Paul Primary School , Omu-Aran , I had my high school education at Playfair Memorial College, Oro-Ago I left there in 1976.
I left for the Teachers College, became a teacher and I taught in a school in Arandun.
I later left Nigeria in 1981 I spent two years in a community college in California for my associate degree in science, my major was just science and I received Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho in 1988 .
I started working in Washington I work in Moses Lake, Washington , I work at Samaritan Hospital as pharmacist , thank God I now have my own pharmacy in Moses Lake which I operate and I have employed about ten people working for me- Team@orientactualmags.com
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