Distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.

I welcome you all to the 2024 Scientific Conference.

The last 2 years have been a great learning experience for me as the 2nd President of the Nigerian Spine Society, NSS. I am grateful to you all for believing in me to deliver and carry on the legacy of this organization. I also want to believe that I have been able to justify the confidence you all reposed in me to do exactly what we envisioned as a group.

We have laid the foundation for a vibrant association going forward. My dream and desire to domesticate spine training in Nigeria in View of our current economic realities will come to fruition in the next couple of months as the guidelines, touchstone, and recommendations that was worked on by the education committee, led by Prof Adeleke Abiodun will be submitted to the incoming executive council.

Our website was redesigned to reflect current international trends. Our membership inventory is now better managed and controlled. Members can now see their profiles and edit same at will. The Secretariat has worked tirelessly to make sure of same. I appreciate the members of my executive council for staying the course.

This years convention, tagged “Kano 2024,” is the 4th in a row of our annual flagship event – Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference, and it promises to be the best since inception of the NSS.

The theme, “Instrumentation in Spine Surgery,” was carefully chosen to reflect our needs as an organization as well as the aspirations of the rapidly growing numbers of surgeons interested in spine care in Nigeria. The various topics that will be discussed and the surgical hands-on sessions, too, further underscore these hankering for a truly exceptional spine care. We will all be greatly enriched and our knowledge base broader when we depart to our various homes on Saturday, 7th September, 2024.

To the incoming executives, be rest assured of our continued support and participation. I have no doubts that Dr MF Alimi will deliver a superlative performance as the leader we all recognize him to be. Congratulations to you and your team and I wish you the very best as you engineer and birth a renewed hope for our association.

I am particularly enthralled by the exceptional dedication and diligence of all the members of the Local Organizing Committee. They deserve our collective encomiums and extolment for a job, so very well done.

I thank our industry partners, hospitals, and institutions (academic, public, and private) as well as our esteemed members for their contributions towards the uplifting and advancement of the NSS.

This remark would be my official valediction as your president. On behalf of myself and family, I thank you all most kindly for your remarkable support in the last two years and ask that you continue to support the association whenever you are called upon to do so. You made the job easier than I thought. Thank you all.

It’s been a rare privilege and my singular honour to serve as your President.

Welcome to Kano!!!

Sannun da zuwa!!!

Omotayo OJO
President, NSS 2022- 2024.