Nigeria’s Health Sector Is Dead

Prince Ifeanyi Dike, who recently survived a kidney ailment, spoke with P.M.Entertainment about his ordeal, the movie industry and his new television programme that will debut on NTA 10 tonight

Welcome back from India or the theatre?

I want to thank God for surviving that ordeal. It was not easy because once you have a kidney or renal failure, it’s like a death sentence, but I thank God that I was able to survive with the grace of God. Lots of people asked God to intervene and he did and I want to say it is the hand of God. I also want to thank those that helped me especially the amiable Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola and of course the President Goodluck Jonathan for the assistance and I want to say it’s something very commendable.

How did you feel as an actor, for the Governor and President coming to support you?

When you are privileged and when God is on your side, people will remember you and you feel the hand of God because I’ve never met the president, I’ve never met Fashola so for them coming to my aid. I think it’s wonderful and as a professional and the chairman board of trustees of Actors Guild of Nigeria, I thank God and AGN, which is in about 26 states of the federation and we have over 50,000 members.

But the Guild is problematic?

It is not problematic, with the Government of National Unity headed by Segun Arinze, they are really doing a lot and they have really achieved a lot. The Actors Guild of Nigeria is now affiliated with the Actors Guild of America, Federation of International Film Actors (FIA). Rome was not built in a day, the only thing you need in any association or in any country is the right leadership. Once we have the right leaders I think things will be in place and Segun Arinze has proven to be a very good leader and with his type of person, I think AGN will go places.

Then what about the faction led by Emeka Ike?

We don’t have a faction please, I don’t know if a faction exists in the mind of some people. Does Nigeria have a faction? This is Actors Guild of Nigeria, there is no faction. Anybody that says there is a faction should produce a letter of registration. The board of trustees is also doing its best for the association, so nobody is above the Guild and if the guild punishes, you remain punished. If you feel you are a super star after because you’ve got lots of money to throw around, well go ahead and spend your money. The issue is that the Guild is still moving ahead, we are not looking back.

What about the court case?

Anybody is free to go to court, there was a court case and the judge threw the case out because of lack of merit. How can someone sue the body that he/she does not belong to? For your information, not every actor is a member of AGN.

Is it compulsory?

It’s not compulsory, not every actor is a member of AGN but it is important to be a member of an association.

You and Ejike, had a running battle sometime over the AGN. Why was that so?

That one has long gone, we don’t want to go back to those things again.

So how is the Actors Guild for now?

Now, we are a moving train, if you want to be progressive, you have to join the train. If you don’t want to be progressive, you jump out of the train or form your own association. It’s a free world, there is freedom of association, you can’t force yourself on people.

Back to your health, how much did you spend in India?

In fact, I spent about 6 months and two weeks in India and the amount I spent on accommodation and the rest is close to about N11 million and other expenses. At times one wonders, it’s not the question of one going for the transplant, it’s a question of the procedure because you are going to be on medication for the rest of your life or else your body will reject the kidney that was transplanted. So, you have to be on constant drug and this costs a lot of money.

You said it costs a lot of money?

Yes.

Like how much do you spend in a week or a day?

I can’t really say because somebody that is sick does not really know how much he has spent but he get a rough estimate.

How much do you spend on drugs?

About 3000 dollars per annum.

So the drugs are not in Nigeria?

Well, if you are buying from Nigeria then it should be a fake one and it will break you down.

What would you say is the cause of kidney problems?

The first cause of kidney failure is fake drugs that is why we want NAFDAC to really step up its campaign against fake drugs because putting NAFDAC number on drugs does not guarantee that its not a fake drug. I can fake a drug and put NAFDAC number on it. The average man on the street does not know the office of the NAFDAC to go and ask them if the drug is real but this current thing NAFDAC is now doing by asking for text message to know whether if the drug is real, how many people will have credit to start checking? Though they said it’s free, that means it will take a lot of time and at times you don’t know how to spell the name of the drugs. I heard that NAFDAC has been removed from the ports, why would government remove NAFDAC from the ports? They are the ones to check the drugs coming into Nigeria and you are removing them, that means they are saying fake things are free to come into the country. If a country initially imports original ones and gets the approval of NAFDAC, I can assure you that the next batch will be substandard.

How did you raise such an amount of money like 3000 dollars per annum on drugs?

I work, how much is 3000 dollars just N4.5 million in a year, if I can’t make such money in a year then I need to go back to my village.

What really caused your ailment, was it your drinking habit or what?

I wasn’t into drinking as such, little kids were also on dialysis at the hospital I was admitted, were they drinking? Renal failure can happen to anybody. Those that take excess salt for instance it can knock off your kidney by increasing your blood pressure, once your blood pressure increases, your kidney and heart start suffering and when you can’t bring down the pressure, your kidney starts packing up. That was what happened at a point, my blood pressure was over 200/120. An hospital rejected me, saying that they had given me all the medications and my BP is not coming down and they don’t want me to die in their hospital.

Is that why you opted for India?

If you go to India and see the way they take care of sick people you will want to be an Indian. At a point, I said why can’t I just relax in this country but you know, home is home. I missed a lot of things back home. The medical sector in Nigeria is nothing to write home about. We don’t have the equipment, the doctors at times go into areas they don’t know. In India, they have different doctors in charge of different parts of the body and if the case is complicated you will see about ten doctors on you to know where the problem is coming from. The amount of money being paid to these lawmakers at Abuja for goodness sake could be used to build a dialysis centre because renal failure is on the increase in Nigeria. People are dying every day in Nigeria. While I was doing dialysis, sixteen people died before I left. Before I came back more people had died and nobody gets to report all these things and it is so sad. This thing can affect anybody. It’s not as if it’s a special sickness, it can strike any moment. You can wake up tomorrow morning and the symptoms will appear.

What were the symptoms you saw?

Swollen legs, swollen face, you cannot urinate and the water will turn to toxins, it will enter into the blood and start killing the person, everybody should go for check up regularly, it is important.

Do you plan to do something new now that you are back?

Of course I want to assist those people that don’t have the opportunity. I want every Nigerian to support the Prince Ifeanyi Dike Kidney Foundation because I just signed an agreement with the hospital in India known as Global Hospital and I told them to reduce the cost of kidney transplant and they agreed, they reduced the cost to 16,000 dollars. With that I think that is something I have achieved and brought home for Nigeria. People should not be afraid of donating their kidney, you only need one Kidney to survive, in India organ donation is well known, people donate their organs freely especially if it has to come from your relation and with the consent of the family members. There are some people there that say if they die that parts of their body should be given to anyone who needs them, they sign it but that cannot happen here in Nigeria because people are scared.

Are you aware of people selling their kidney?

Selling, there is a law against that, it should not be sold, so the only thing you can do is to appreciate the person that donates the kidney, its not for sale.

Some young people just travel out of the country that I will not mention to sell their kidney are you aware of that, it’s now a booming business?

What if they die in the process of donating the kidney, its not a business please, it’s a humanitarian gesture. If someone did not donate kidney for me, I won’t be here today and I still have a lot to contribute to Nigeria.

Will he be on drugs too?

No, he won’t be on drugs.

How old is this guy that gave you his kidney?

As long as the person is an adult, he can donate kidney.

Do you still do things you can do after the transplant?

They will have to check your cholesterol level, you don’t take alcohol anymore, you don’t stress yourself, don’t drive, like I used to drive before but now am being driven.

Apart from the kidney foundation do you intend putting your experience in a movie?

Well, the aspect I want to put in a movie is people getting scared of donating their Kidney. That is the dramatic part of it but if I want to put it into movie I will encourage people to donate their kidney to help people. There is no entertainment in it, I think it should be a documentary and not a movie.

When you were doing the dialysis what was on your mind?

Nobody wants to die, everybody prays to see their grand children, even if the doctor says you are dying you still reject it as a Christian.

What is that aspect of your life, it does not affect. Do you still do exercise and other stuffs?

I just came back now, I don’t have to lift heavy objects because it will stress the kidney. You don’t shout even at the highest provocation. Kidney transplant will make someone a total gentleman because you have to be very careful.

Do you still perform your sexual duties?

Of course, everything should be done with moderation and you have to be careful and not to get too excited.

What part of your body do you want to donate when you pass-on?

Me, no I’ve not signed anything yet, you know I said we should have something like that here in Nigeria. Now for my kidney, I don’t use my kidney anymore this one is a borrowed one and I can’t give it out. If I die and my heart is in good condition, they can take it and give it to anyone that needs a heart.

Apart from what you have mentioned, what about the stress of acting, can you still do that?

This interview is like acting too. That means I’ve been acting all along. Except when you are not a professional. As an actor, you won’t know how to pick your lines or know what to say and if you are a good actor you don’t need to stress yourself, you know your lines that’s all, in fact right now am setting up a programme on NTA Channel 10 titled Housewives Quiz Challenge. I’m bringing two housewives together and ask questions on current affairs and other issues. The first episode is coming up today at 7:30 on NTA and I just recorded it, so I have been working, for instance. After my surgery and as I was lying on the bed at the hospital, the Indian doctors saw me and said ‘Dike what are you doing move around’. I’m not a lazy man, I don’t want my wife to feed me, I want to feed my wife and family that’s my assignment so I have to work.

The industry, I mean Nollywood is on the downward trend what do you have to say about this?

It is not on the downward trend. The changes is that everybody now goes to cinemas to watch movie and actors and actresses now premiere their movies which is good for them. If I release a movie today, I think I should take it round cinema houses first and make my money.

Is that good for the movie industry?

Yes, go to the cinemas and make your money but the problem is that we don’t have good cinemas in the country where people can go to watch films and another thing is that if the government should withdraw the oil subsidy people will not have money to go to the cinemas because if the subsidy is removed the money that will have been used for license will have been used for food because if things go up, the entertainment industry will suffer too. So, we should also join in the debate against the removal of oil subsidy, because every government has been removing oil subsidy so what have we gained? For example, banks will mismanage people’s money and the government will use tax payers’ money to bail these banks. For God’s sake, Nigeria is the only OPEC country that still imports petroleum products. In fact, there was a time we had what is called turn around maintenance of our refineries (TAM). So what has become of that? The entertainment industry should shout more because it will affect us the more. I am sure you are aware that the entertainers are at the forefront of campaigning for this government, drumming and dancing, so it is now time for us to say “Oga, you are a nice man but your advisers are bad people. You might have people who want your government to fail so be careful.”

Are you fulfilled as an actor despite what happened to you and other things?

Well, I don’t know what you mean by fulfilment but as long as you wake up every morning it is the beginning of another day, in fact that question should be directed to Larry King, he just stopped presenting on CNN and he is above 70 and he is still doing his job. So the question does not arise, because everyday you keep on solving problem and there are new challenges and setting targets. Sam Loco acted till he died.

So you don’t have plans to retire now?

If you retire yourself, you are still working because people will come to you for consultations, the moment you retire and your brain is not working, that means you are about to die. Look at the man that formed News of the World, he is old and still working. He is so rich and can go to one Island to relax. You should work and work and work. People are so selfish with their ideas that they don’t want to transfer it. No man should retire, retire from what? My friend you ask question like a police officer (laughter).

What other things are you doing apart from acting?

I am an actor, a producer, I am a television personality. I present and market my programme and I am also a politician.

So you are contesting an election like your other colleagues?

Yes, the legacy of this country should be given to those that have ideas. If I can handle an association like AGN don’t you think I can go into a political party.

So you want to go into governorship race?

No, I want to start from the grassroots like a councillor in Imo State, to chairman of a Council, House of Assembly, Governorship and up and up even to the presidency.