Dr. Adetolu Ademujimi

  The fervour with which relevant authorities (Federal & State governments) and their partners (international, regional & local Non-Governmental Organizations) create awareness about some chronic infectious diseases (e.g. HIV, Tuberculosis) and diseases of public health importance (e.g. Cholera, COVID-19, Ebola, Meningitis) among the Nigerian public appears not to be extended to Lassa fever. From the Lassa Fever Situation Report released weekly by Nigeria Centre for Disease Control & Prevention (NCDC), the 10th – 16th March 2025 report showed that out of 604 confirmed cases of Lassa fever,113 deaths have occurred in Nigeria since the beginning of year 2025 till the period of reporting.   And 3 States – Ondo, Bauchi & Edo – are responsible for 71% of confirmed cases of Lassa fever.   Later parts of the report indicated that “the predominant age group affected is 21-30 years (Range: 1 to 94 years, Median Age: 30 years) [and] the male-to-female ratio for co...

  The recently released Corruption Perception Index (CPI) report is another call to action against corruption in my dear country of Nigeria. Quoting verbatim from the Trading economics website on 18th February 2025; “ Nigeria is the 140 least corrupt nation out of 180 countries, according to the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) reported by Transparency International. The Corruption Perceptions Index ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. A country or territory's rank indicates its position relative to the other countries and territories in the index ”. From this ranking, Nigeria is perceived as less corrupt than 40 countries and more corrupt than 139 others. Predictably and unfortunately, so long as we persistently uphold a public procurement system, for instance, whereby a to-be-favoured-vendor is asked to bring “two other pre-filled invoices” to mimic a pre-qualification, Request For Quotation (RFQ), Expression of I...

  Melo ni mo ma ro nipa abiyamo Iyabode (how much will I broadcast about a mother incarnate Iyabode), who was bequeathed to mother earth on 13th February 1955? My siblings and I may not be throwing a 70th birthday party for our loving mum because of her grief over the recent loss of her younger brother, Dr. Ademola Akinmola (a medical doctor), whose painful passing in a ghastly road traffic mishap on 26th August 2024 remains a sore wound for ma’a mi (my mother – in Yoruba language) , Mrs Iyabode Moromoke Lillian Ademujimi (nee Akinmola). Be that as it may, my pen needs neither a sound of music nor clinging plates & cutlery to expressly and openly celebrate and acknowledge the relentless, selfless and priceless disposition of my mum to her husband and three offspring - my humble self (her first male), Toun (her second child & only female) and Toyosi (her second male & last child). Ma’ami is the first child of her late father, Pa Israel Adenodi Akinmola, who departed t...

    The pockets of preventable deaths due to fire incidences resulting from accidental spillage of gasoline by trucks conveying these highly flammable substances over the past few weeks are proofs of dearth of a vital societal fabric in Nigeria. Poverty, illiteracy and ignorance may have been largely responsible for the unrestrained rush by passers-by to scoop ‘free’ petrol that may unfortunately burst into flames at the slightest trigger, resulting in wanton killings as witnessed across three States recently. Nonetheless the triple excuses I just stated, there is a prevailing decline of social order - a dangerous wave of less observance of standards, values and laws. How come Nigerians living in diaspora, irrespective of their socioeconomic, literacy and awareness status, observe the laid down social order (or earn sanctions) in their respective countries of residence abroad? Notwithstanding the economic challenges that Nigeria currently experiences, and the policy initia...

  Happy New Year to all Nigerians. I align with your naked hearts, bare mouths and unclothed words that convey our candid collective desires of a less burdensome economy and functional society in year 2025 unlike the old year – 2024. What we yearn for are normal things, which unfortunately, have been missing in our nationhood for forty years or more, making the current ‘abnormal’ situation appear as ‘normal’ features of the Nigerian society. Using this and other media to reach those in authority about year 2025, therefore, here is our natural request for a new breath, or fresh air, in 2025 - a nude yearn for a new year! On one hand, it is a fact that many occupiers of public leadership positions in Nigeria may not necessarily have the quality and character of good leaders. On the other hand, it is fair to point out the reality that many inhabitants of Nigeria are also far from been called good citizens. Despite this dual shortcoming, it is ironical that the latter group (the go...

  Being a paper presented by Dr Adetolu Ademujimi at the Maiden investiture of Rotarian Royal Bunmi Alade, FCTI, FCA, Permanent Secretary, Ondo State Ministry of Physical Planning & Urban Development by Rotary Club of Akure Royals on Friday 21st December 2024 at SITA Hall, Akure Protocols Compliments of the yuletide season to everyone in the room. It’s heartwarming to be here to felicitate Rotarian Royal and Chief Bunmi Alade, a distinguished bureaucrat whom I have been privileged to be acquainted with for about a decade as one our admired “Ogas” in public service of Ondo State. It is also a spec of honour for my humble self to have been requested to deliver a lecture on a burning topic of public governance at his maiden investiture by Rotary Club of Akure Royals. If efficiency, transparency, accountability and adaptability are the expected outcomes of Nigeria’s bureaucratic machinery – the public service, then the subject in consideration is necessary and urgent, but wit...