Adesanya-Davies Warns Shell, Pension Authorities Over Healthcare Access

….Says ₦15bn Suit Pending

Professor Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies has urged Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited (RAECL) and relevant pension and healthcare authorities to urgently address her concerns over access to medical benefits, warning that administrative disputes should not put lives at risk.

Adesanya-Davies, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said she had depended on the Shell-linked healthcare system for decades and appealed to the relevant authorities to ensure uninterrupted access to necessary medical care while disputes over her benefits are resolved.

She also referenced the legal dispute involving Chinazam Okoli, a child who suffered severe brain injury following an appendectomy at a Shell hospital in Port Harcourt.

According to the statement, the Okoli family instituted a ₦50 billion civil action at the Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt against SPDC, Shell PLC in the United Kingdom and other defendants over alleged clinical and surgical mismanagement.

The family has alleged that Chinazam suffered oxygen deprivation to the brain during treatment in September 2016, resulting in severe and irreversible hypoxic brain injury and permanent incapacitation.

Adesanya-Davies said the case should serve as a reminder to employers, hospitals, pension administrators and healthcare providers about the potentially serious consequences of disruptions to healthcare access.

“I am not Chinazam. I am an adult woman who has depended on this healthcare system for decades. I am asking that my life and medical welfare not be placed at risk through administrative decisions that could leave me without access to necessary care,” she said.

She stressed that her intervention was not intended to prejudge the Chinazam litigation or accuse any individual of medical negligence, but rather to draw attention to the importance of protecting patients and beneficiaries who rely on employer-linked healthcare arrangements.

The professor disclosed that her genotype, SC, has been known to SPDC for 35 years, and urged the company and relevant authorities to take her medical circumstances seriously.

She appealed for dialogue, transparency and due process in resolving the dispute, insisting that healthcare and preservation of life should remain the priority.

“A pension dispute can be resolved. A contractual dispute can be resolved. A legal dispute can be resolved. But when a life is lost, no court judgment can bring that life back,” she said.

Adesanya-Davies further called on SPDC, RAECL, pension administrators and other stakeholders to review her healthcare status and ensure that no administrative action exposes her to avoidable medical danger.

“I want a solution, not a tragedy,” she said, urging the parties to resolve the matter through lawful and constructive engagement.

The statement was signed by Ms. Joy Wellington on behalf of Professor Adesanya-Davies.