Ebenezer Obadare writing in Premium Times:
Take a look at the table below. It’s a simple five-cell affair with the names of twenty-five recently deceased Nigerians drawn randomly from various walks of life, including ages at time of passing, countries where each death took place, the causes of death (where available), and the year of transition.More here
The names are presented in a simple alphabetical order, with no distinction between those who lived or had a home abroad, and those who traveled expressly to secure medical care. However, as far as I can tell, only two, possibly three, of the 25 people on my list belonged in the former category. What is at issue for me – and something I propose to think with in this brief piece – is the information in the third cell: where the deceased were at the time of death. The most interesting observation is that none of the 25 individuals listed here died in Nigeria or in a Nigerian hospital. Eleven died in the United States; 10 in the United Kingdom; 2 in India, and 1 each in Spain and South Africa. What is the import of this pattern, and what does it tell us about life as it is lived in contemporary Nigeria?
What, precisely, is the sociological narrative here, and what are the socio-economic, cultural and political forces driving the trend?