Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has promised to join the advocacy for children’s welfare.
Obasanjo made the vow while playing host to members of the executive council of the Paediatric Association of Nigeria (PAN), led by Dr Ekanem Ekure, in Abeokuta on Monday.
He urged members to remain compassionate and committed advocates for children.
Obasanjo explained that he would never stop having children because his children, who are now adults, have also started giving him grandchildren.
“You belong to a very important profession. Your profession is a profession of life and death; you deal with children, and you have to be able to feel for them.
“If I come to you, you will ask me where my head is aching; is it from the left or the right, or how do I feel at night. I understand that.
“The task you have giving me of being an advocate is a task I will easily accept. If I have no children because all my children are adult, my children are having children and my grandchildren are having children.
“I will never stop having children because when I stop, my children will not stop, when my children stop, my grandchildren will not stop,” he said.
The former president, who assured them of his readiness to support and join their advocacy efforts, said that paediatricians occupied a unique position because of their direct responsibility for the lives and well-being of children.
He said the paediatric practice required not only medical expertise, but also deep empathy, stressing that doctors must be able to feel and understand the experiences of their young patients.
According to him, the nature of paediatric care demands careful attention to detail, as doctors often have to ask questions and interpret symptoms for children who may be unable to fully express themselves.