THE immediate past president of the World Medical Association (WMA), Dr Osahon Enabulele on Tuesday said the federal government policy that denied him of diplomatic passport almost adversely affected his tenure as the number one doctor in the world as he had to be moving from one embassy to another to get visas for his frequent travels.
He said he was able to overcome the hurdles because he had made up his mind from the day he was elected that nothing would stop him from achieving his goals as WMA president.
Enabulele stated this in Benin City when the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) honoured him for a successful tenure as the WMA president.
He said: “If I tell you that most of my frustrations or constraints have really been internal in terms of the Nigerian structure, you may not believe because it looks like we are really not ready to support excellence in our country and that is why everywhere I go today I say develop your own partway, develop your own objectives, develop your missions and visions and pursue them to a point of finality.
“On assumption of office, when I asked the Nigerian government that I needed a diplomatic passport, that request was simply turned down and I asked myself who else was showcasing Nigeria more than what I am doing? They said the diplomatic passport is meant for some politicians, it is meant for people who I don’t know and even the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was bold enough to tell me that but I did not allow that to deter me, yes it was going to be a challenge because I needed to be junketing from one embassy to another to look for visas and yet some elements who are not contributing to our societal development have these things at their beck and call, that was enough to discourage me but I refused to be discouraged. People outside the country cannot understand why such an enviable position cannot be showcased by the Nigerian State.
“So if I had relaxed and waited for the government, perhaps the kind success stories we are hearing today would not have been recorded.”
Earlier, the Chairman of NUJ, Comrade Festus Alenkhe said the Council decided to honour Enabulele because it believes in excellence.