LAGOS (PANA)�Renowned professor of medicine and former minister of health, Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, has recommended a South African-type Truth and Reconciliation Commission that would expose misdeeds of the past and enable Nigeria to move forward.

"We have to establish who did what and offenders brought to book so that such crimes are not repeated in the future," Prof. Ransome-Kuti said on a prime time television interview program "One-On-One."

In almost 30 years of military rule, before embracing democracy six months ago, Nigeria witnessed widespread violations of human rights, capped with the country�s international isolation under the regime of late military ruler Gen. Sani Abacha (1993-1998).

In response to public concern, the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo, inaugurated last May, has since set up a special human rights probe panel, whose members are currently visiting South Africa to compare notes with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is probing apartheid era injustices.

Prof. Ransome-Kuti, 72, a distinguished pediatrician who served as health minister from 1985 to 1992, said Nigerians need not be ashamed of their past, but should expose the offenders to serve as a deterrent for the future.

Expressing optimism about the country�s future, he said the nation should put its troubled past behind it and move forward. However, Prof. Ransome-Kuti lamented that successive governments had failed to build on the solid health infrastructure initiated during his tenure.

An apostle of primary health care, Prof. Ransome-Kuti says he still dreams of the day when basic healthcare will be accessible to the entire population.

It is possible, but we have to work very hard at it, he added.

Prof. Ransome-Kuti stunned Nigerians with news that the death of his younger brother and renowned Afro-beat musician, Fela, resulted from AIDS complications in 1997.

On why he chose to break the news instead of concealing the cause of Fela�s death, the former minister said it was partly as a result of the Kuti family�s belief in truth, and the fact that Fela was a renowned figure.