Government should see private sector as partners, not competitor in science & Tech development – Nordica CEO

Dr. Abayomi Ajayi MD, Nordica Fertility Centre being presented with the ‘Outstanding Alumni Award’ for his contributions to Assistant Reproduction by Professor Afolabi Lesi, Provost College of Medicine, University of Lagos at the CMUL Alumni Dinner and Fundraising.

To move science and medical field forward in Nigerian, Obstetrician/Gynaecologist, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi has urged the governments at all levels to see the private sector as partners, not as competitors and then facilitate the sector. 

Ajayi who is also the managing director of Nordica Fertility Centre, said Nigeria is not getting it right because private sector should be the one that drives the needed change and then government can come in.

Speaking to newsmen while receiving an outstanding alumni award by College of Medicine, University of Lagos tagged: ‘Medilag Alumni High Table and Fund Raising Dinner’ recently, Ajayi advised government to be intentional about making progress in science and technology.

He said: “Private sector will be the one that will start driving this change and then government will have to come in. But right now, we don’t get it right; we need to be intentional about making progress in Science and Technology. It is no longer very difficult in the sense that some people have already done these things and what I see is that technology is either you copy, steal or you buy.”

He also identified brain drain as another challenge in the sector.

Ajayi said: “One of the problems we are having now is that doctors are not even staying in Nigeria. We know that the numbers have grown slightly, but training institutions have not really grown too much. One of the things I keep saying is that, yes, there may be a small problem but there’s always a solution, there is always an opportunity in that problem.

“One of the problems is that everybody wants to stay in Lagos and Ibadan. But there are training institutions in Akure, Osogbo and elsewhere, I’m sure they are not as chocked as Lagos is.

“More importantly, doctors now need entrepreneurial skills because anywhere there are 190 million people; there are a lot of opportunities. I think the minds have to shift from that government must provide everything to what we can provide with the skills that we already have,” Ajayi averred.

Commenting on the honour he just received, he said: “Well anytime your constituency especially your trainers decide to give you an award, it is something that should be appreciated.  So this is a very good night for me, hence the people who trained me decided to say I am doing something right and they gave me an award.”

Nordica CEO added that Nigeria still has a lot of people who are not mediocre, who can stand shoulder to shoulder with anybody anywhere in the world.

“We should celebrate these people more,” Ajayi advised.