A prominent Kwara-based Public Affairs Analyst, Comrade Ishowo Olanrewaju, over the weekend called on the Kwara State Government to urgently convert the newly established Kwara State University of Education (KWASUED) into a specialised medical university to tackle the state’s worsening shortage of doctors and healthcare professionals.
​Speaking to newsmen in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, Olanrewaju argued that while education remains vital to development, the state already possesses an oversupply of teacher-training infrastructure through numerous public and private colleges of education and conventional universities.
​”The number of educators we produce far exceeds what we need or can employ. Our challenge is not a lack of teachers; it is a dangerous shortage of doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals,” Olanrewaju stated.
He noted that the state government should have prioritised a medical university over a specialised institution for education to address the pressing healthcare needs of its populace.
​Highlighting precedents set by other Nigerian states that established specialised health institutions to bolster their local medical manpower, the analyst emphasized that Kwara must act strategically to safeguard public health.
​”These states identified a need and responded to it strategically,” he added. “Kwara can and should do the same. The conversion of KWASUED into a specialized medical university will be a direct response to a documented crisis that is costing Kwarans their health and their lives.”
​He urged Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and the Kwara State House of Assembly to re-evaluate the institution’s mandate to better align with the state’s critical healthcare challenges.
