Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged members of the Paediatric Association of Nigeria (PAN) to remain compassionate and committed advocates for children.
Obasanjo made the remarks while playing host to the members of the executive council of the association led by the President, Dr Ekanem Ekure, in Abeokuta on Monday.
The former president, who assured them of his readiness to support and join their advocacy efforts, said that paediatricians occupied a unique position because of their direct responsibility for the lives and well-being of children.
He said the paediatric practice required not only medical expertise but also deep empathy, stressing that doctors must be able to feel and understand their young patients’ experiences.
According to him, the nature of paediatric care demands careful attention to detail, as doctors often have to ask questions and interpret symptoms for children who may be unable to fully express themselves.
The former president said he clearly understood the importance of the advocacy role being assigned to him by PAN, describing it as a responsibility he was willing to accept without hesitation.
Obasanjo said that although his children were now adults with children and grandchildren of their own, his responsibility to children would never end.
“You belong to a very important profession. Your profession is a profession of life and death.
You deal with children, and you have to be able to feel for them.
“If I come to you, you will ask me where my head is aching; is it from the left or the right, or how do I feel at night. I understand that.
“The task you have given me of being an advocate is a task I will easily accept. If I have no children because all my children are adults, my children are having children, and my grandchildren are having children.
“I will never stop having children because when I stop, my children will not stop, when my children stop, my grandchildren will not stop,” he said.
Earlier, Ekure appreciated Obasanjo’s service to the nation in leadership, human capacity building, and development.
The PAN president appealed to Obasanjo to join the association as an advocate for children.
“We have come to appeal to you to be an advocate for the children of Nigeria. More than half of Nigerians are children and adolescents, and they are a great asset to the country.
“Sadly, these assets are played on diseases that could be prevented, played on violations of human rights and their well-being, played with malnutrition, and that’s worrisome.
“That’s the reason why we have come to you, we know you hold a special, unique place as a former president, an elder statesman and that position makes your voice strong and loud.
“Anything you say will be listened to by the people in government and the public,” she said.
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