Chairman of Tunji Olowolafe Foundation, Dr. Tunji Olowolafe, has urged newly inducted medical specialists to help build world-class healthcare institutions capable of meeting Nigerians’ needs at home and attracting patients from across Africa.

Olowolafe made the call while receiving an Honorary Fellowship of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria at the Annual Convocation Ceremony of New Specialists and Doctors of Medicine National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria.

He said Nigeria has the talent and capacity to build world-class health care institutions to help reduce medical tourism in the country.

He said “Every year, Nigerians spend enormous sums travelling abroad for medical treatment. Our ambition should be to reverse that trend: first, by building a healthcare system that Nigerians do not need to leave home to access, and ultimately, by making Nigeria a destination for patients from across Africa.”

According to him, although there were already signs of progress in achieving the ambition, hospitals and medical equipment alone could not transform the healthcare sector, saying medical professionals remained central to building institutions that could compete with the best globally.

Olowolafe called on the new Specialists and Doctors of Medicine Medicine to keep learning, refining their craft, and help build medical institutions in Nigeria that can stand alongside the best anywhere in the world.

Olowolafe said his own career took him away from clinical medicine more than 40 years ago, describing his return to the medical profession through the honorary fellowship as ironic.

“My own career took me away from clinical medicine more than forty years ago. Perhaps there is some irony that medicine has found a way to bring me back today,” he said.

He expressed gratitude to the College for the honour and prayed for the institution, its fellows and Nigeria.

Reflecting on his career, Olowolafe said he left medicine without a grand plan but simply responded to opportunities and problems that needed solutions.

He said that over the years, he found himself functioning as a civil engineer, design architect, biomedical engineer and marine specialist, despite not holding formal qualifications in those fields.

Olowolafe cited his role in the development of the Lekki-Epe Expressway as an example, saying he became chairman of the Lekki Concession Company in 2008, despite not being a civil engineer or having built a toll road before.

He said the project was achieved by bringing together the right people, expertise and capital to build something that had not previously been done in the region.

According to him, the experience reinforced his belief that Nigeria had the talent and capacity to build world-class institutions.