The Minister of Science and Technology, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, recently marked his 70th birthday anniversary and spoke with journalists about his professional and political career as well as the state of the nation. SEYE OLUMIDE (Southwest Bureau Chief) reports.
What informed your transition from medicine to politics?
First, my father, who was a teacher and very renowned one with all sense of modesty, his students were always excited whenever they saw and the first statement they always make anytime they see me is that is this the son of Merry Chief, which is my dad’s nickname. And once I said yes, they would start telling me stories about him (my father). So, some of my dad’s students are former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. My dad taught Chief Obasanjo in Abeokuta and the same for former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Bola Ajibola, Onalapo Soleye, a former Minister, the late Bashorun MKO Abiola among others. Apart from being a teacher, my dad was also a principal.
He was also a politician, he was a leader of the defunct Action Group (AG) in one of the local governments in Ogun State. Political party meetings were being held in my dad’s compound (house) because the vehicles for campaigns were being parked inside my father’s compound. It was so fascinating whenever they had meetings, especially rallies. I usually remember the nostalgia then. I remembered when Mama HID Awolowo, wife of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, used to stand at the balcony of my dad’s house to address the crowd, when Papa Awolowo was in the prison. All these were under the AG around 1966. I was really fascinated. I am saying all these party meetings and rallies fascinated me a lot and I got interested somehow.
Secondly, my experience as a medical doctor tells me clearly that politics itself has to do with good governance. Indeed, one can say that the state takes its root from medicine because when you attend to your patience as an individual, you must be diagnosed before you can treat and if you don’t make the right diagnosis, you cannot treat the patience well. You will be beating about the bush. So, the first element in the treatment of a patient is the right diagnosis. In the same manner for the state but the difference is that politics is medicine on a larger scale. You now move from the individual to the society. You diagnose the problems of society and then you apply politics to solve the problems. That’s just it.
One of the renowned doctors made that statement that medicine is politics at large. He made the statement when he was picked to be the chairman of a committee that was set up to look at the problems of the people.
