The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) Senatorial Candidate for Delta South, Dr Austin Orette, has criticised former governors and public officials who seek medical treatment abroad after leaving office, saying the practice exposed the failure of the healthcare systems they supervised while in government.
Orette said it was ironic that many political leaders who had the opportunity to strengthen Nigeria’s health sector now depend on foreign hospitals for medical care, describing the trend as evidence of poor leadership, misplaced priorities and weak governance.
The Nigerian-American medical doctor, entrepreneur and politician also argued that Nigeria’s greatest challenge is not corruption alone but the collapse of civic consciousness and weak citizen participation in governance.
In a statement issued yesterday in Owhelogbo, Isoko North Local Government Area of Delta State, Orette urged governments at all levels to strengthen democratic institutions, promote accountability and invest in sectors that directly improve citizens’ welfare.
“For decades, Nigerians have been told that corruption is the nation’s greatest enemy. While corruption has undoubtedly weakened our institutions, I contend that it is only a symptom of a much deeper national crisis: the collapse of civic consciousness and citizen participation in governance,” he said.
He maintained that the country’s democratic and developmental challenges would persist unless citizens became actively involved in governance and consistently held public office holders accountable.
“The Nigeria we seek will emerge when citizens stop behaving like spectators and begin to act like stakeholders. Only then will corruption diminish, institutions become stronger, and leadership become truly accountable,” he stated.
According to him, democracy can only thrive when citizens understand how government works and actively demand transparency and accountability from elected officials at every level.
Orette lamented that while many Nigerians can identify the President, only a few know their councillors or members of their State Houses of Assembly, despite those officials making decisions that directly affect their daily lives.
He noted that local governments receive monthly allocations from the Federation Account, yet citizens rarely demand accountability on how such resources are utilised.
The Delta South senatorial hopeful also criticised what he described as the growing culture of personality worship in politics, saying competence, accountability and measurable development have been sacrificed on the altar of ethnic, religious and partisan loyalties.
“Leadership has been reduced to personality worship. Rather than demanding competence, accountability and measurable development, many people judge leaders through the lenses of ethnicity, religion and political loyalty,” he said.
While acknowledging the importance of religion, Orette warned against allowing faith to replace civic responsibility.
“Faith is important, but faith should never replace responsible citizenship. An unhealthy culture of excessive religiosity, detached from civic responsibility, has encouraged passive acceptance instead of constructive engagement.
“A society cannot pray away problems that require informed governance, sound policies and active citizen participation,” he added.
He also expressed concern over the country’s worsening security situation, saying many Nigerians now organise their lives around fear instead of criminals fearing the law.
Orette further accused several state governments of prioritising prestige projects over strategic investments capable of improving electricity supply, healthcare, infrastructure and economic opportunities.
Speaking on the healthcare sector, he described it as unacceptable that leaders who neglected Nigeria’s medical institutions while in office now rely on overseas hospitals for treatment.
“As a proud son of Delta State, I find it deeply troubling that we continue to celebrate expensive projects while neglecting investments that would generate sustainable economic prosperity.
“A state blessed with enormous natural and human resources should not still struggle with basic infrastructure like reliable electricity.
“Perhaps nothing illustrates our leadership crisis more than government officials and former governors who seek medical treatment abroad after spending years in office without building functional healthcare systems at home.
“When leaders refuse to trust the institutions they supervised, they expose the failure of their own stewardship. Even more troubling is that many of these same individuals seek elective office again and are often rewarded with another mandate,” he said.
Orette, however, stressed that citizens also have a responsibility to improve governance by evaluating leaders based on competence, integrity and performance rather than ethnicity, religion or political patronage.
He maintained that Nigeria’s development cannot be driven by the President alone but requires effective governance at the state and local government levels, backed by active and informed citizen participation.
“The future of our nation depends not only on electing better leaders but also on becoming better citizens. Democracy flourishes not through blind loyalty but through informed participation,” he said.
