For Nabil - We Miss You

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This post was written by one of BN readers who would prefer to remain anonymous. She writes from the depth of her heart.

On Friday, the 11^th of May 2012, Nabil complained of a headache. His best friend and business partner took him to one of the renowned private hospitals on Lagos Island and that day, he slipped into a coma.  After a series of tests were conducted, they discovered he had a bleed in his brain. For some reason, there was no qualified neurosurgeon available and they were unable to find one within the time frame and it became imperative that he had to be taken out of the country.

My friend Nabil Hanga passed on the following day shortly after their departure from Lagos.  As I type this I’m still reeling from the shock of the sudden loss.  My friend died and it was because our health care system in Nigeria ranges from crumbling to non-existent.  Friends and family rallied round and raised over a $100,000 to try and get him out of here as fast as possible but it was to no avail.

My friend, my kind sweet friend is not here anymore because there was no qualified doctor to help him. He was 26 years old. He was a mathematical genius with a beautiful mind and a loving heart.

He believed Nigeria was the future and therefore wanted to invest in his country. He won’t get the chance, because he’s gone. But you and I are still here. We need to do something about the lackadaisical attitude towards the fabric of our society that is falling apart over our heads. We are losing our future because we are not willing to invest in our today. We go overseas for everything education, healthcare and even our furnishing and forget about our dire circumstances.

I cannot do much, I am not a politician or a millionaire but all I have is my voice and my words and I believe we can all raise our voices to speak against the system that allows this kind of meaningless deaths.  A system where a very minimal percentage of the populace is able to afford good health care which is not even available within the shores of this country is not sustainable.

Change does not come overnight or through one article but it has to start somewhere.

Nabil had an impact on so many people and his untimely passing is inspiring people to act to improve our healthcare system. Here is another submission by a friend of his.

It is painful because if it wasn’t for human error/inefficiency Nabil might still be here. They say it is always the best of us that go first. Nabil was simply a genius, focused, kind and didn’t care too much for the materialistic lifestyle a lot of us are obsessed about. He was simple and always talked with this calm gentle tone even though we all know he could argue. He did not harm his body with alcohol or drugs or cigarettes. He was innovative – it was obvious he was really going to contribute something great to Nigeria YET God decided that he will leave this earth before us. Money was no object so save Nabil’s life, private jets and hundreds of thousands of dollars were at his disposal in a couple of hours, but money cannot guarantee life. Who are we to know better than God but what we can do is to get the message from this sad event. It is time to stop living in ignorance and it is time to grow up. We all need to stop harming our bodies because it is fragile and our biggest treasure. We need to stop focusing on things that really do not matter because even if you lived the pure life that Nabil did, tomorrow might be the day you face God. This is also how we can remember Nabil’s life and he will not die in vain.