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On Tuesday, former President Olusegun Obasanjo made metaphorical remarks about his mortality during a visit to Zamfara State, saying he is approaching life’s “departure lounge.”

He was in the state at the request of Governor Dauda Lawal, who invited him to officially commission the newly refurbished Yeriman Bakura Specialists Hospital in Gusau.

While praising the governor’s developmental efforts, Obasanjo remarked, “Even though I am gradually going to the departure lounge, but I won’t take my boarding pass until you and I get this State to become one of the leading States in Nigeria.”

He continued with a light-hearted tone, stating, “You asked me to come; I have come, I have seen, but I am going nowhere yet. If you don’t invite me to Zamfara, I will invite myself regularly.”

At 88 years old, the former president also addressed the growing challenge of Nigerian healthcare workers leaving the country in search of better opportunities. He suggested that offering them meaningful incentives would help curb the ongoing wave of emigration, commonly referred to as the “japa” phenomenon.

“For hospitals, especially when many Nigerians, who have been trained as medical personnel are japaing, which is going out of the country looking for better conditions, I say how do you hold them here.

“You have to give them a bit of incentive. You have to. We need all the personnel that we can have because for our hospitals to deliver, you need the right environment, you need equipment and then you need the personnel,” Obasanjo said.

Governor Lawal, speaking at the same event, noted that with the complete overhaul of the Yeriman Bakura Specialists Hospital, residents of Zamfara no longer need to travel outside the state to access quality medical care. He added that the facility is now equipped with advanced medical technology and infrastructure that align with international standards.

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