Open Letter to Nexim, Diamond Bank and Bank PHB

Hey everyone,

It's about to get hot in here. I am frustrated with the idleness of the Banks in Nigeria that are affecting Nicosan production. And I'm sick and tired of being frustrated of dealing with some Chairman or VP of Finance's languor. Here is an open letter to the Banks in Nigeria that are holding up the production of Nicosan, and I need you to please copy this, forward it, and disseminate it all over the web. I want this letter to end up on the front page of Nigerian magazines and newspapers, I want this on the web, I need this letter to come to the attention of those powers that be. All I'm asking is that you sign your name to the bottom if you agree or just forward it to someone in your sphere that has the ability to forward it up the chain. Let's make waves people, and get Nicosan back on the market and in the hands of those of us that need it and depend on it. Thank you.

Dear NEXIM, Diamond Bank and Bank PHB,
My name is Tosin Ola, and I am the writer of the Sickle Cell blog located at http://sicklecellblog.blogspot.com. I have been a loyal user of Nicosan ever since it was introduced to me in 2007, and this remedy changed my life.

Before Nicosan, I was in and out of the hospital on a monthly basis, having to have regular blood transfusions, countless IV sticks and daily pain. But once Nicosan started working for me, the daily pain ceased, and I have not been admitted into the hospital since 2008. NIPRD really did deliver an amazing product ~ Nicosan works; it works well; and I know you know it works.

I am very worried, because not only is Nicosan hard to find in the United States, it is very difficult to get in Nigeria as well. I had a reader fly to Nigeria specifically for the purpose of getting a supply of Nicosan for his 2 daughters. He spent 3 weeks, and travelled high and low, from Enugu to Lagos, to Abuja and Onitsha. He searched everywhere he could; going to Xechem and every big pharmacy in Nigeria with no success. He came home without a bottle of Nicosan to show for it. He now has to watch his children go through excruciating pain, and know that he tried to help them, but couldn’t. He cried as he was talking to me on the phone, begging me to procure even a bottle of Nicosan for his children. It broke my heart just telling him that I had none.

My friend in London started taking Nicosan the same time I did. He is a student that is finally able to go to school and have a normal life. Two weeks ago he got admitted into the hospital and has not come back home…because he ran out of Nicosan.

Another friend of mine, Angela, has been on Nicosan for only 9 months. Now she is in and out of the hospital every week, dealing with nurses that could care less about the fact that she is in pain. Last month, 7 patients in Bahrain died from sickle cell in the hospital because no one treated them quickly enough. If they were on Nicosan, they would not have had to go to the hospital. Leah died in December from acute chest syndrome…after being healthy for almost a year while on Nicosan.

These are not just stories. There are people that are suffering, dying and living in excruciating pain that you have the power to help. Nigeria has the highest population of sickle cell patients in the world, and I know that each and every one of you knows someone affected by sickle cell. This is not an isolated condition, and we are all connected. So you are allowing your own child to suffer, your own daughter to be in pain, your own sister or brother to die because of your indolence. It is criminal that you have the power to cause so many people to suffer and that you do it so heartlessly and thoughtlessly, especially since God (and NIPRD) has given you the ability to make this painful nightmare a thing of the past.

Every day I get an email from a sickle cell warrior that I introduced Nicosan to, someone who has been able to FINALLY have a normal life, but now has to deal with this all consuming pain yet again. I get letters from people wanting to start Nicosan, but having no chance, because there is none to be had. My friends are falling sick left and right, and asking me to help…and I have nothing to tell them. What excuse will I give them as they lay in their hospital beds wracked in pain? That because of paper pushers, greed, red tape, politics and miscommunication, we are all suffering? What should I tell them?

Last month, I ran out of Nicosan. Now I am in the same boat as my friends, waiting for the evil crises to descend on me like a specter of doom. I am afraid of falling sick again, I am afraid of having to go to the hospital, because sickle cell patients are dying in hospitals from ‘sickle cell related complications’ at an alarming rate. Not just here in the United States, but in Bahrain, Nigeria, India, Jamaica and Brazil. There is a huge stigma that exists for sickle cell patients around the world, and every time we pass through a hospital, we are playing dice with death. Why would you allow this to be our fate?

And yet, here you sit, on the best kept remedy for sickle cell in 100 years, as dust gathers at the Xechem factory that could be our salvation. The Port of Lagos has equipment to manufacture Nicosan, rusting wastefully away while you sit behind your desk ignoring all attempts to put this matter to rest. Nine months have gone by since the factory closed; nine months that this lifesaving remedy has been off the market. It’s such a tragedy, and I feel like no one cares about the sickle cell sufferers. For if someone did care, with even an ounce of humanity or decency; I would hope that one would move heaven and earth to start production of Nicosan yet again. The solution is not hard to come by, all you need is to pick up the phone, talk to each other, agree to terms, sign a contract, and GET PRODUCTION STARTED! I am not a business major, but even I know that you cannot recoup an investment or make any future profits by allowing the materials, product, and equipment to fall to waste.

Sickle cell patients are getting desperate, and starting to fall for all manner of crooks who claim that they have ‘a Nicosan-similar remedy’. I was proposed a tea made of the same herbs that Nicosan has, and I am considering it, because I feel like this is my only option. Some are going to Hydroyxurea, the cancer drug that has shown some success, even though it has a ton of negative side effects and the potential to trigger cancer.

I would not wish this pain on anyone---not even my worst enemy. This is a burden that is mine to bear, as well as countless million other people. And yet, NIPRD came up with this solution, showed us life in the Promised Land, and then you banks brutally took it away. It frustrates and saddens me that 9 months have gone by and the Xechem factory has not been reopened. There is no excuse in the world that should leave millions of people in agony and suffering like this, put thousands of people at the mercy of uncaring healthcare professionals, and push hundreds of people to the brink of death.

I sincerely urge you, to help us in this dire time. We have no way to make Nicosan ourselves, and you gave us Manna from heaven. So please, I am begging you from the bottom of my heart, do not play with my life. Whatever is stopping the production of Nicosan, please find it in your power to remove it. You are our champions, and we need you to help us. I hope and pray that you will be able to overcome whatever obstacles, people or problems in the way and start producing Nicosan promptly, because frankly: all our lives depend on it.

Sincerely,
Tosin Ola.