Every society has its heroes and every generation has its challenges that would create its heroes. At the moment, Nigeria is bleeding from excessive consumption of foreign exchange (forex) which dislocates its balance trade account and weakens the naira. Rivers State-born and University of Lagos-trained medical doctor and investor, Dr Emi Membre Otaji, presides over a business empire highlighted by perhaps the biggest medical centre in the Niger Delta with a six-story world-class hospital facility at the Trans-Amadi section of Port Harcourt named the ‘Signature Wing’ of the Princess Medical Centre. In an exclusive interview, the Deinkribo 2 of Kalabari told IGNATIUS CHUKWU that creating such a world-class medical tourism centre that now reduces medical trips abroad is a significant milestone in his life
Can you take us through memory lane of your life and career as you clock 63?
This day, June 10, 2021, I clock 63 years old, having been born in 1958. I had straight forward education from Township Primary School to Baptist High School to the then College of Science and Technology, all in Port Harcourt. I thus proceeding to the College of Medicine of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) where in graduated within time in 1983 . I did my National Youth Service Corps {NYSC} in 1984 at Military Hospital in Port Harcourt. I had very much wanted to join the Military but those who knew better dissuaded me because I did not have a Nigerian Defence Academy background.
After my youth service, I went back to Lagos to work for two years, after which I came back to Port Harcourt. In 1987, I started the Princess Medical Centre in Trans-Amadi Industrial Area of Port Harcourt.
What background do you have in medical practice and business that gave you the confidence to wax strongly as a medical investor all these years?
I had a foray into politics in 1991 and served as board chairman of the West African Glass industry {WAGI}, then the only publicly quoted company east of the Niger. It had with German technical managers. I was a young doctor, fresh from medical practice, to head a board of business gurus. I had to train myself, go round to see how factories looked like. I went to the Oluwa Glass Company, then the best in the country. I also took self-counsel and proceeded to the Lagos Business School (in fact, we were one of the earliest persons) to see how business worked. I also went to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) because the company I chaired was quoted. I had to imbibe the language of the stock and capital market.
This brought out something in me. Apart from being a medical doctor, it brought out a robust business spirit in me. Thus, the company I registered in 1987 is still running over 30 years, evidence that it is good to understand business principles. In 2017, with the support of Shell Nigeria through their Aspire Fund, we set up this ‘Signature Wing’ of the Princess Medical Centre which is to take care of the high-end of the economy while the old facility that was started in 1987 which we call the Princess Classic Wing is still in operation. The two wings are taking care of both ends of the economic spectrum. The ‘Signature Wing’ is multi-specialty from dental unit, gynecology, cardiology, name it. There are four theatres, just to tell you what we are talking about.
My experience in the corporate world in the 1990s made a difference in my life. I thus later founded Elshcon Nigeria Limited in 1994 to foray into many things, rendering services to many companies including supply of chemicals to then NAFCON, today’s Notore. We were doing a lot for Shell; doing civil works, location buildings, etc. We were handling part of their movement businesses from point to point. We also had another company doing medical equipment supplies.
We played in that role until 1999-2003 when I served as Commissioner of Health in Rivers State. I happened to be the chairman of the body of Commissioners of Health nationwide.
Due to paucity of funds at that period in Rivers State {199-2003}, we focused on making the system work as much as we could, without many projects. We did primary healthcare facilities and paid close attention to the College of Health Science & Technology because it was a critical college for supply of manpower at the primary healthcare level.
One high point of our tenure was the establishment of the Rivers State Emergency Medical Service (EMS). We were the first state to have a statewide EMS, working on both land and water. It worked to a very large extent.
Again, as chairman of commissioners of health, I represented the states in the federal panel that worked out how to start the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) with Labour, Doctors, and Pharmacists.
The highpoint of that assignment came one time when a meeting was held in Jos, Plateau State in the Middle Belt of Nigeria. We were returning to Abuja where I was to catch a flight. Somewhere at Mopa Junction, we met herders, about 50. They captured us, forced us all to lie on the hot road cold tar. I was praying silently with my lips moving when one of them saw it and shouted at me. He whipped me fiercely at my back. The injury or mark is still there on my back to this day.
Your name and that of your organization have been in the news of recent; what are those things that stand you out especially in the healthcare sector, oil and gas, and in shipping?
When I left office of the commissioner in 2003, my firm which was working for companies had declined because its operations centred around me. Thus, my absence affected the operations. The contracts started dropping very much. Today, that is no more the case. The company is now running with structures drawn up by KPMG as consultants so that it won’t be around one individual. The company is ISO-certified and so, its operations are of international standards.
So, when I came back in 2003, I went into marine sector at about 2005 and started building barges and tugs. Other companies were building for us but later we started building for ourselves and put them in the oil industry. That is how shipping and inland business came up, moving things to locations. In Nigeria, most oil operations are inshore {or onshore}. The offshore oil productions like Egina, Bonga, etc, also exist. We also do ship repairs, and ship-building in Port Harcourt.
Necessity is truly the mother of invention. That was how I as then President of the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (PHCCIMA), was privileged to make a suggestion at a Quarterly Business Meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, held with the captains of industry. I suggested how to use the Niger Delta experience to move cargo by water at Apapa Port to reduce the notorious Apapa Road gridlock. This helped a lot, though with some issues. Unlike in the Niger Delta where the oil companies set standards with quality checks, this is not so in Lagos. We have huge experience in the Niger Delta in oil and gas, marine and healthcare.
So, Elshcon works offshore supporting oil and gas. Few months ago, the issue of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) came on stream. It means there is big trade in Africa, seamless trade. So, we now use our vessels to carry containers between Apapa and other ports in the West Coast and beyond, soon to get to the East Coast, to Cape Town, to Angola, etc. I happen to be a member of the Sea-Link, a strategy to link the ECOWAS by sea. This has been on the drawing board. This opened my eye, too. We are now moving things around West Africa. We got naval architects to re-design these vessels to carry cargo, not just oil and gas but containers. Some can take up to 480 teus of containers at a time, to and fro. It is the first of its kind. Of course, I am a member of the governing council of the Nigerian Chamber of Shipping and one of the founding members of the Ship Owners Association of Nigeria.
What did Shell want to achieve by supporting this world-class medical facility?
They have a financial facility called Aspire Growth Fund to support businesses in some selected sectors. Healthcare managed to be part of this. So, we applied and they came to see things for themselves. Processes to get a kobo from Shell are cumbersome, but it was easy for us because some of the things they demanded for were in place due to our standardization scheme based on KPMG standards. They brought in their own fund, a quarter, the old Princess Medical Centre brought a quarter, and Elshcon brought some.
Is the Shell fund equity or loan?
That is a good question. They saw the world-class process of our businesses and approved six-year tenure, then much lower interest rate without equity stake.
Shell also uses this medical facility; same with almost all the international oil corporations (IOCs) such as the NLNG, Agip, Total, Exxonmobil etc. Chevron is about to join. What is here won’t be found in most other places. The idea is to make a patient like it. This is a gift to the people of the Niger Delta. They do not have to go to Lagos, Abuja or Dubai for medical tourism to access the treatments that ‘The Princess Signature’ can easily do at very cheap rates.
Here you have the best of equipment, personnel in many fields: dental, cardiology {head of this place is a cardiologist}, nephrology, kidney, extensive array of lab equipment, radiology (installed by GE), and four theatres that are the best around. In fact, we are in partnership with Indians. Covid-19 pandemic in 2021 delayed things but soon, we restart with them. So, instead of going abroad for dialysis, you come here. Some of the foreign doctors will come. We have signed all the papers. Renal transplant will take place here.
Can this place help Nigeria to reduce foreign exchange or capital flight?
That is where we are and we can do more. Some of the patients here would have gone abroad. The renal transplant to be done here would stop patients from going abroad. The investors and partners paid attention to details in setting this place up.
Again, when the Covid started, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) floated a healthcare intervention fund. They gave us some money and we renovated the old wing (Classic) and set up our Invitro Fertilization (IVF) Unit on the fifth floor. We bought more equipment in our labs through this fund.
The way this place is going, in the next five years, what would this place be doing for Nigeria?
Our plan is to expand in both scope and content. If we do that, it means that many more people will be employed, and many persons who would have gone abroad would be treated here. To Nigeria, it will help to stem the tide of medical tourism abroad and subsequent capital flight. We have telemedicine practice. A patient can be here and consult any physician in the world.
If there is a specialty not easily available here but is in say St Thomas Hospital in London or Apollo Hospital in India or anywhere, we can call and they hook up on our telemedicine facility. They will see the patient and also consult, instead of flying down here. We have come to that level.
This means this very challenging area of medicine has been taken care of, Port Harcourt is stepping in?
Yes, Port Harcourt is joining the league of a few healthcare facility centres that can now save Nigeria’s foreign exchange. The scope will only get bigger.
How do you secure the confidence of the upper end, how can top persons accept that here can solve their problem?
That aspect is somehow an issue because they want to fly abroad; but what about emergencies? We just had an emergency situation in an oil company. The patient was very bad such that even air ambulance could not help him. He has been with us for two weeks.
Cost is another factor. I was in Dubai and had a case needing surgery. The price they gave me was close to $13,000 which is about N5.8m. I refused to do it and came back here to do it for about N100,000. This was in February 2021. It was the same level of expertise as surgeon, same anesthetics, in a theatre fitted by Phillips Medical. See the huge financial difference. But because it is an elective case, I came back here. Imagine if it was an emergency, I would have done it there. The $13,000 would exclude hotel, air ticket, etc. Last month, I did my colonoscopy because colon cancer is a big killer among men of certain age. Every five to 10 years, depending on how old you are, you ought to do it. I did the last one in Houston, USA, for over $1000 years ago. I did it here for less than N100,000. It is an elective case, a cold case. They did it here same way like in Houston.
Your question is very apt because we have seen top government officials, monarchs, company executives, etc, that are entitled to going abroad. They would want to go abroad, but when they have emergencies or their loved ones have issues, they will come. From there, they will develop confidence in what is here, what Port Harcourt can offer.
Investment in this facility, in healthcare business, is a marathon not a sprint.
These awards to you and your companies, are they saying what you did is new or different?
Last month the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) in one of their visits to this facility, saw that the old facility (Princess Medical Centre, now the Classic) has been in operation providing medical service since 1987. They saw that most businesses in Nigeria hardly survive for 30 years and this one is still growing, not declining. Add this to my being in healthcare business for all these years. I was chairman of Clearline Health Insurance Company, one of the oldest. We have had our footprint in the healthcare industry. So, adding this to the oil industry and shipping, it means much to them. This is what I have done in the health industry.
When Nigerians realize that here they can get it right and cheap, there will be a surge; can here cope when this happens?
An old Indian doctor going back home saw this place and predicted a surge soon. Our hope is that we will be expanding as need arises. We are prepared for this. Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 however affected our business because the disruption came less than two years of our operation; but thins are picking up.
At 63, do you feel accomplished, are you at your plateau, or still climbing?
As we get to 63, you get more spiritual, more careful, more philosophical, and you take less risk. You also get wiser. A lot of people want you on their boards. You get a lot of speaking engagements, etc. For me, we are pushing boundaries at 63, in different areas. We are going higher.
What I have learnt is that you plan better for your tomorrow by learning from your yesterday. Take life the way they come, but do a lot of planning, a lot of reading, exercise every day. I play golf, I swim, I go to gym, I walk out.
Giving back is important at this stage through various missions. We have the Dr Emi Membere Otaji Awards in the Uniport medical school. My company Elshcon has scholarship scheme in the Rivers State University (formerly University of Science and Technology) in marine engineering and mechanical engineering. We also take care of indigent students. We have medical outreach to those who cannot afford it. We are giving back to society from the little resources available.
Thank you
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