The Hypocrisy of Medical Tourism Among Nigeria’s Political Elite

One of the most shamefully embarrassing afflictions plaguing Nigeria today is the widespread culture of medical tourism among the political elite. It has become almost routine to see current and former government officials, presidents, governors, and other top officeholders, jetting off abroad for medical treatment, often for ailments so minor they could be handled at any reasonably equipped and staffed health centre within the country.

This troubling trend exposes a deep-rooted hypocrisy. These are the very individuals who, while in power, were entrusted with the resources and responsibility to develop our healthcare system. Instead of doing so, many presided over years of underfunding, neglect, or outright corruption that left our hospitals ill-equipped, our medical professionals underpaid, and our citizens at the mercy of inadequate care. Then, when illness inevitably strikes, they flee the consequences of their own failure, seeking refuge in the advanced health systems.

The situation becomes even more disgraceful when some of these former leaders, now under investigation or listed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for corruption-related offences, approach the courts with requests to travel abroad for treatment. This is not just a legal loophole being exploited, it is a national shame. What moral authority allows someone who has allegedly looted public funds, including those meant for healthcare, to now ask the state to sanction their escape to foreign hospitals?

Their actions reveal a glaring truth: they do not believe in the systems they governed. And why should they? They never built them to serve the people, let alone themselves. But justice demands consistency. If the hospitals they left behind are good enough for the average Nigerian, they should be good enough for them too. Let them be treated in the public institutions they created or failed to.

Medical tourism by public officials is more than just a personal choice; it is a loud statement of national failure. It undermines public confidence in our health system and weakens the incentive for reform. Worse still, it deepens inequality, showing the average Nigerian that survival is a privilege of power, not a right of citizenship.

It is time to put an end to this culture of escape. Nigeria must enact laws and judicial guidelines that bar public officials under investigation, or facing trial, from seeking foreign medical treatment, except in the most extraordinary, independently verified circumstances. Moreover, all public officeholders should be mandated to use local hospitals during and immediately after their tenure. This would force accountability, ensure shared experiences with the populace, and hopefully ignite genuine investment in the sector.

Until our leaders are made to live with the consequences of their own decisions, the cycle of hypocrisy will continue, and ordinary Nigerians will keep paying the price.