In a candid conversation with INSIDE OYO ONLINE NEWSPAPER, Dr Olamide Folorunsho, a distinguished healthcare professional and aspirant for Akinyele, Lagelu Federal Constituency shared insights on his recent achievement of an Executive Master’s degree from Oxford University in Global Healthcare Leadership.
With a background in medicine and a passion for public service, he discussed his motivations for pursuing this advanced degree, his views on the intersection of professionalism and politics, and his plans to leverage his Oxford training to contribute to his constituency.
The interview delved into his perspectives on healthcare policy reforms, the importance of prioritizing underserved populations, and the need for innovative approaches to healthcare delivery. He also shared his thoughts on the ongoing 2027 election positioning and offers reflections on staying grounded and connected to the grassroots despite his elite educational background.
Excerpt Below
Sir, congratulations on your recent Executive Master’s degree from Oxford. What inspired you to pursue a global healthcare leadership specifically?
Thanks very much. I was getting to a point in my career where more management and leadership skills were required and I wanted to be positioned to deliver when it mattered most. Also, the public healthcare sector has seen an increasing trend in the past few years of dwindling aid and external funding. What we call the official development assistance (ODA) had been on a downward trend and was projected to reduce further in the light of increased fiscal pressures in developed countries, rise in nationalism etc.
Furthermore, donors and partners are requesting new ways of designing and delivering programmes- asking for doing more with less and more accountability.
Added to this were the shocks that the COVID pandemic caused, upending several regular ways of doing things. It was clear to me that new leadership and skillsets will be required to effectively address health and development challenges in a post-COVID world. These considerations led me to the Masters in Global Healthcare Leadership at the University of Oxford.
You seem to have an interest in politics. Where does professionalism and politics intersect for you?
Laughs. I think all humans are somewhat interested in politics, even if from a self-preservation and in an insidious way. That said, perhaps you can say I have been indoctrinated with service ethos from a young age. I attended Mayflower Junior School and Mayflower School Ikenne, and if you know anything about our proprietor, Dr. Tai Solarin, he was selfless, a social justice crusader, a civil rights activist, a politician and an educationist- all rolled in one.
So, if you have such figure shaping your outlook from a young age, coupled with the fact that my Dad is a trade unionist and grassroot politician himself – you may have the answer to what you may be pointing at. To me, one of the critical rites of passage for any would be public servant should be verifiable evidence of being successful in a non-politics area of endeavour prior to thinking about politics. It builds trust, demonstrates capacity, and contributes to the narrative of integrity. Thus, if this is followed, the argument of technocrats versus others may thin out since everyone should be one technocrat or the other- in bricklaying, accounting, medicine or as a teacher.
What people therefore misconstrue as the opposite of being a technocrat- often called ‘core politician’ may refer to a concoction of leadership, being grounded with your people, being relatable and a people person, street credibility, etc. are then not mutually exclusive of being a technocrat but tell-tale signs of an individual that will do well in governance.
Of course, there are technocrats that should remain technical or professional people and not be leaders or managers, but the contrary is also true that there are core politicians that should never smell leadership or managerial positions too.
Again, many Nigerian leaders study abroad but struggle to translate that knowledge locally. How do you plan to make your Oxford training contribute to your constituency?
Well, scholars define the ‘gown’ and the ‘town’, most times expressing a dichotomy between both. The gist is that I first heard those expressions as a medical student at the University of Ibadan. I take the firm view that knowledge has potential elitism-eliciting potential- be it acquired from my Ibadan or University of Oxford.
There are several on-going initiatives to advance healthcare in Nigeria, Oyo State, or in my constituency. Prioritizing underserved and vulnerable population with healthcare investment taking a rights-based approach to healthcare access, is critical. Initiatives that encourage constituent members to increase their health seeking habits must not be one off or project-based but continually be implemented, reviewed and actioned. Indeed, infrastructure, including all tiers of health service delivery and ranging from preventative to curative to life course, must be put in place. On a leadership front, personally, humility, leading with empathy and grace, proactively taking the views of the community through having them as partners and collaborators, and partnering with others on meaningful and transformative interventions to support the community are within scope.
What lessons have you learnt from recent political occurrences in your constituency?
Uhmnnnn. Laughs. That’s an interesting question. I think it was our late Governor Abiola Ishiak Ajimobi that liked the First Lady Rosalynn Carter quote “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.”
It’s a powerful one but has an implicit assumption that the leader knows more than the people- which may sometimes be true but not all the time. In expanding the quote, it is my view that whatever a leader wants to do- no matter how transformative it is- is less important than how the leader goes about carrying out the transformation.
Whatever the recent happenings are, they are directly or indirectly results of the people’s will- either the elite in the form of opinion leaders, the partisan- in form of political party faithfuls, or the citizenry. The reflective take I hold is that everyone is fully aware of their actions and totally understand the options available to reinforce or redirect status quo.
We are lucky in Oyo State to have a reasonable pool of veteran and first-timer representatives, and where constituents are satisfied (or not) with the representation they are receiving, it’s typically obvious. The level of constituents’ expectations are also determinant factors- for example, if constituents expect the bare minimum or have been used to a certain no or less creative performance, any semblance of movement, even though transactional or patronizing, may appear laudable.
What do you make of on-going 2027 election positioning?
2027 is still a long 2 years from now. Laughs. As you saw from commentaries following the President’s mid-term conclave, there’s always a core consideration of the timing and rightness of election positioning.
As our current Akinyele/Lagelu representative, a long-term politician has said at the recent local government meeting- ‘Oke ni signal ti ma n wa. Ma be. Signal ma wa. Ti signal ba ti de, wa mo nkan to ma se’, you and I are waiting for the signal. Laughs.
Today, healthcare is a major issue in Nigeria. From a policy perspective, what specific healthcare policies or reforms would you champion, if opportune?
There are many on-going great initiatives to salvage healthcare delivery in the country. I have a bias towards ensuring equitable delivery of healthcare, country-wide, irrespective of where people live.
From a policy perspective, Nigeria must extend some of the creative models it has implemented in transportation or other economic sectors (e.g. public-private partnerships), interest-free bonds etc. to expanding healthcare. Policy must encourage national and state governments to directly incentivize health workers in rural as well as conflict-prone locations.
A central policy thrust to anchor needed improvements may be the launch of a Health Services Scheme as an ambitious offering to bring healthcare closer to citizens by partnering with diverse stakeholders to invest in preventative, diagnostic, as well as curative, primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare etc.
Health outcomes trends must be noticed early, and direct interventions implemented to address them. For example, there is a rising incidence of non-communicable diseases including hypertension and diabetes amongst young people, unlike 20 years ago. A policy could be developed to promote the mainstreaming of risk-profiling for all young people at their healthcare visits, with an even higher focus on those with higher risk factors. Related to this, are policies that reduce unhealthy food imports to the barest minimum, adopt clear food constituents labelling, reduce advertising of unhealthy food/diet to children, encouragement of limited sedentary life.
Furthermore, Policies that incentivize States to invest in increased physical activities initiatives, those that discourage excessive intake of alcohol, and those that support smoking cessations will be transformative.
Some might say you’re an elite because of your Oxford education. How do you stay grounded and connected to the grassroots?
That’s an interesting question, as I generally do not see myself as elitist. Truly, I have been privileged to have received reasonably good education, however, show me one scenario where that is not desired by anyone? I believe that my education is elitist, as not everyone unfortunately has access to it- which must be changed. That said, my personality is not elitist. That I told you about what transpired during our recent local government meeting tells you that I am in touch.
Some people have been at the grassroot for decades but are still garrulous, proud and condescending- even though people misconstrue some of these for being Akinkanju because of our vestigial romance of big manism.
However, I understand that the people that say such, often, are those that do not have any other counter punch…so they resort to inconsequential points. What the grassroots need are a revolution of ideas from those that have their best interest at heart, and not tokens. If these ideas come from Okoko or Oxford, it shouldn’t matter. Àjùmọ̀bí kò kuku kan ti àánú, ẹni orí rán sí’ni ló ńṣe’ni lóore.
