Category: Features

The Lagos State Cooperative College (LASCOCO) recently graduated 104 students. During the graduation ceremony, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu restated his commitment to help the college to achieve its mission of creating an economy that is knowledge-driven and skill-based. CHINAKA OKORO reports

Arguably, cooperative societies play crucial roles in the social and economic development of any society. Again, from the point of view of their operational framework, cooperatives work towards fair globalisation – one that is fundamentally inclusive, sustainable and people-oriented.

According to experts, cooperative societies achieve the above feat by creating and supporting business entities that promote solidarity among the people, greater accountability, deep partnership and fair roles and standards that offer equitable opportunities for all. This may have informed the establishment of the Lagos State Cooperative College (LASCOCO), Oko-Oba, which recently graduated 104 students.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu did not hide his feelings for what he wanted LASCOCO to be. Hence his untiring efforts at making sure that both the education and physical structure of the school get facelifts on a regular basis. He assured LASCOCO of his administration’s commitment to providing the much-needed support required by the College to function optimally in turning out professionals needed in the sub-sector and in the creation of the platform and opportunities for Nigerians to pursue and develop a career in cooperative business enterprises.

Governor Sanwo-Olu, who made this known at the maiden convocation of the Professional Diploma Programme of LASCOCO, explained that his administration remains relentless in the effort to convert emerging threats to opportunities, leveraging on digitalisation technologies to deliver learning and educational outcomes.

Represented by the Commissioner for Commerce, Mrs Lola Akande, the Governor said the event represented a major milestone in the effort of the present administration to revolutionise the educational drive in the state. He said the administration has embarked on massive investment in critical education infrastructure as well as propelling formulation of policies that would help to engender human capital development, innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship skill development, and ultimately facilitate the attainment of the development goal of making Lagos a twenty-first-century economy.

“We have thus established this College out of the need to complement efforts toward the creation of an economy that is knowledge-driven and skill-based in appreciation of the crucial role of cooperatives in enterprise development, job creation, and generation of massive economic opportunities for the teeming population of the state.

“It is, therefore, expected that the existence of the Lagos State Cooperative College would help to enhance the performance of bookkeepers and trustees of cooperative societies through the provision of need-based training; while also helping to meet specific manpower needs of the state through the provision of high-level manpower with capacity for self-employment and job creation.

“I enjoin the leadership and entire membership of the cooperative movement in the state to ensure increased patronage of the training programmes of the Lagos State Cooperative College to develop the capacity of operators in the sub-sector,” the governor said. Let me at this point commend the Governing Council and Management of the College for the giant strides so far recorded within the relatively short period of their coming into office.

“I must acknowledge that you have worked in tandem with my administration’s vision for a greater Lagos through your demonstrable commitment to service. Having set for ourselves the laudable dream of a greater Lagos, it is imperative that we continually strive to sustain the legacy of excellence in the delivery of public goods and services in all sectors of our state’s economy,” Governor Sanwo-Olu said.

The Chairman of the College’s Governing Council, Mr Oyewale Raji, noted that in Lagos State, the number of registered cooperative societies has grown from 108 in 1967 to well over 15,000 with a net asset of N70, 731,066,384.90, according to the mid-year report of the Cooperative Department for 2016. He described such a huge number of cooperators managing a stupendous amount of funds of about N80 billion in today’s worth as an essential part of the current administration’s T.H.E.M.E.S agenda and a goldmine waiting to be explored and exploited for the betterment of Lagosians.

“The economic reverberations and trickle-down effects of activities of this sub-sector can only be imagined in terms of improving the economic emancipation of the greater number of our rural dwellers and thus unable to provide assets to collateralise loans from conventional banks and financial institutions,” Raji said.

He also stated that to get to the milestone being witnessed, a number of steps had been taken and achievements delivered through the joint efforts of the Governing Council and the Management team. Thanking the state government for the support rendered to it so far, the Provost of the College, Mr Akorede Ojomu, appealed to Governor Sanwo-Olu to, in his usual manner, help them to overcome some of the challenges facing them, including the procurement of a permanent site to meet NBTE’s requirement of not less than 10 hectares of land and to enable LASCOCO to realise its vision as a global model cooperative institution.

“There are a lot of facilities that are still lacking in the College for which we have currently improvised but which are still required in the long run for the enrichment and standardisation of our academic activities. We need demonstration farms, a well-equipped entrepreneurship centre for vocational and entrepreneurial training, a pseudo-micro finance outfit for students of Microfinance and Enterprise Development, to mention but a few,” Ojomu appealed.

Also, Ojomu revealed that LASCOCO has signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Kingdom Cooperative College, Manchester (UKCC), a foremost British Educational charity that has been in existence for over a century with a rich heritage of cooperative education, training, research and practice.

“I am happy to report that the Lagos State Cooperative College enjoys the valued members of the UKCC and has also signed with the College, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will avail the institutions the benefit of exchange programmes and, particularly assist LASCOCO to derive the considerable level of mentorship towards the strengthening of its all-encompassing academic governance processes, core academic programmes,” Ojomu said.

The high point of the event was the award of honorary fellowship of the College conferred on a former Commissioner for Commerce, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, and three former permanent secretaries, Wale Raji, Olajide Bashorun and Olalekan Akodu, for their immense contributions to the development of the college. While Mr Bashorun expressed appreciation to the college for the honour bestowed on them; while Mrs Oladunjoye announced that she will be meeting one of the College’s needs by adopting the library, which will operate as a physical and e-learning centre.

No fewer than 104 students bagged Professional Diplomas in Cooperative Studies during the convocation ceremony. Five of the graduating students who distinguished themselves in the course of the professional Diploma programme were given prizes, with Mrs Veronica Akingbade awarded the overall best student prize, while the special student award was given to Ogunjinrin Oluwakemi, a person living with a disability for her tenacity and resilience during the programme.

Today makes it exactly 10 years that Oba Kehinde Olugbenle (Asade Agunloye IV) ascended the throne as Olu of Ilaro and Paramount ruler of Yewaland in Ogun State. In this interview with KUNLE AKINRINADE and LAWRENCE OLADOTUN, the first class monarch speaks about his experience on the throne and the development of Yewa communities, among other issues.

The experience in the last ten years has been divine; God has been faithful. I was a prince before I became a pastor. As a prince, there was no serious tutelage for me because I didn’t grow up in the palace. I didn’t have the privilege of being taught about the code of conduct on what to do as a monarch while I was still a prince, which I could have transferred to the throne when I became a monarch.

Even at the Ipebi (traditional seclusion or retreat), which is mandatory for all monarch-elect to observe before enthronement, most of what goes around there revolve around meeting people that matter in the society – kingmakers, warriors, hunters, and religious leaders, and others who come around to pay their obeisance to one and some of them would come to pray with you as monarch.

So, if you are not a prince and you find yourself on the throne, the gap could be there. I know that I got here by the grace of God and then I ask myself how come ten years on the throne clocked so fast. Some of my senior colleagues do ask me how come I find it easy on the throne because when I was coming to the throne. What I was hearing from people was that the throne was too big for a young person to occupy, but then I was 45 when I became the king and I wondered what age would I be old enough to occupy a royal stool? So, I just laughed inside of me because that was just to scare young people like me away, to make way for older people to occupy the throne. So, spending ten years so far on the throne has been by God’s grace and His grace has been sufficient for me; it’s a double grace I am enjoying – the grace of being a prince and also being a pastor that is why I called it a double grace.

In fact, there is a book I will be presenting in May during my 10 years anniversary, and the book is entitled Double Grace and I will be presenting it to the public. There is so much on my head about my journey so far that I can still remember now and I feel that it’s better I put them down (in a book) for generations to come to share my experience in life so that some people can learn from it in future and that is why I have taken the pains to write a book on what has happened to me when I was young, how I hawked on the streets and played street soccer and to let people know that most kings have a humble background.

Major challenges confronting Yewaland

The major problem facing Yewaland today is unity. We have people from diverse tribes compared to Egbaland. In Remo and Ijebu area where my mother comes from, they greet one another saying Eweso in one accord. In Egbaland, whether you are from Ake, Oke-Ona, Gbagura, the people from Abeokuta are united by the salutary Baawa. But in Yewaland (Ogun West), there are some languages of my people that I don’t understand. In Ipokia Local Government, you can talk of Egun, Anago, and Eyo. In Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area, comprising Igbesa and Agbara, you have the core Awori people. In the Yewa South axis, you have core people who migrated from Oyo and in Yewa North, you have the Ketus who have their roots in Ketou, Republic of Benin, where you have Alaketu of Ketu and they speak the same dialect as the Ketu people in the Benin Republic and also Ohori, who people most times have accused of wanting to hold their Oro festival when their kith and kin in the neighbouring country are doing their Oro festival.

This diverse background has really affected our unity and that has really cost us so much in the sense that after almost 45 years since the creation of Ogun State, we have not had the privilege to be governor of the state, not because we don’t have children who had aspired to become governor but because these diverse ethnic backgrounds have affected the fabric of our unity in this part of the state. Hence, those outside of Yewaland have been exploiting the loopholes to deny us of the office and what they normally do is to pick someone from Ipokia and Imeko where they know they are not of the same dialectical leanings to pick candidates. And I have always been saying that the moment you pick two candidates of Yewa descent, you have already divided Yewaland, not to talk of bringing ten or more candidates like it happened during the last election, thereby dividing our votes along Awori, Yewa South, and Yewa North(Ketu) lines, despite our huge population.

And that is why today we are the most underdeveloped and neglected area in Ogun State based on my little experience in the last ten years. The long years of neglect have made the infrastructural gap in this part of the state to be wide and it keeps getting wider and wider as most of the major roads here have been abandoned such that even if any Yewa man gets there tomorrow, he can only try; he cannot totally fill the infrastructural gap.

Mobilising indigenes’ interest in the socio-economic development of Yewaland

In 2012 when I came on board, one of the very first foreign trips I made was to the United Kingdom and Ireland where I inaugurated the Yewa Descendants Union in UK and Ireland and I charged them to be good ambassadors of Yewaland. Since then, they have been organising Yewa Day biannually. The same thing applies to the United States of America where we also have the Yewa Descendants Union (North America chapter), which I also visited and I encouraged them to come together under one umbrella, irrespective of where they all come from (in Yewaland). I urge them to first see themselves as indigenes of Yewa before seeing themselves as indigenes of Ilaro or Igbogila or any other parts of Yewaland because that’s the only thing that connects all us together. Thank God, we have changed our name from Egbado to Yewa because when you say Egba-Egbado, we are not the same culturally.

Traditionally, we don’t have any link anywhere because our roots are different, despite being Yoruba. What I am saying, in essence, is that we need to build on that name and associate with that name whether you are Awori or Egun or Ketu, the same way indigenes of Abeokuta and Remo identify first with their sub-ethnic group before their communities. Go to Ekiti State today, and you will find out that the communities attached Ekiti to their names such as Igede-Ekiti, and Ado-Ekiti; so everything about the communities there is first Ekiti. So, this is one of the visions I shared with the people when I came on board and today the communities are beginning to attach Yewa to their names. For example, my own kingdom, Ilaro is now written and identified as Ilaro-Yewa, and Ipokia is now identified as Ipokia-Yewa.

 Incessant clashes between farmers/herdsmen and confrontations between smugglers/customs men in various parts of Yewaland

These are people that have been with us for so many years now and have lived with our parents and married our children. There is a place called Sabo in Ilaro where these people live in large numbers. And I don’t know where we got it wrong such that they suddenly changed and feel they own the land. We have lived together and where the orientation now becomes we are the owner of the land is what I don’t know. Some of them will arrogantly say that the land belongs to the country and not the indigenes and that they can graze anywhere, and I think that the National Orientation Agency needs to work on the orientation of these people. Let’s go back to the basic when we used to live together as one because it is unfortunate where we find ourselves now as a country. But we are doing everything to ensure that all of us live together in peace like before and the situation appears to have calmed down for now; even the issue of kidnapping has subsided.

That we are at the border with the neighbouring Republic of Benin shouldn’t be a crime, but a blessing to us, because this is an international border with another country and not states in Nigeria and that is why Ogun State is called the Gateway State because our area shares a border with the Benin Republic. But the only challenge we have now is the closure of the border, which has not really helped. Yes, if you have a porous border, it’s like you have an unsecured house and the best thing to do is to fortify your door with burglar-proof. We don’t have a border because our border doesn’t meet international standards. I have been privileged to travel across the world and I understand geography very well; so what we have across the country is no border at all because there is no visible delineation between our country and neighbouring countries. You will see serious barricades at borders in developed countries and at times you will see deep tranches that will prevent you from driving into another country. But here in Yewaland, there are hundreds of cars that drive through different communities to other parts of other countries. One part of the building is in Nigeria and the other part is in the Benin Republic; a case in point is the recent face-off between Igbokofi community around here and the Benin Republic authorities’ over their encroachment into Nigerian territory.

However, no smugglers will enter Nigeria if the border is adequately fortified and locked. We don’t even have drones that can monitor the border and the truth is that the border should be reopened because it has been closed for too long. Some people depend on the border to eke a living; the villagers, clearing agents, and other people that come there to work. You close a border just because of one product (rice) at the expense of the livelihood of so many people who can no longer do anything again and they cannot feed their families. That means while the government is trying to solve one problem, they are creating another problem. Rice is a staple food and as long as the supply of rice in the country is inadequate, something must make up for the shortfall. We need to help the farmers grow rice and subsidise it to make it cheaper and affordable because once the local rice is cheap, it will definitely reduce the demand for foreign rice. So, when we grow enough rice in this country, smuggling of rice will naturally stop.

Sacrifices as an Oba

My freedom has been taken away. I am not free again. When you came to me 10 years ago, I was free but not anymore. Royal fathers are not meant to be seen everywhere or show off anyhow by taking bales of money and spraying people all over the place. When you go to the northern part of the country, you will see aides shielding kings when they want to clean their mouths because they are not meant to be seen anyhow in the public. There are certain places royal fathers should not be seen at all, but these days some royal fathers go to nightclubs. The way some of our colleagues conduct themselves in the public nowadays is uncultured and these are some of the challenges. So, my freedom, my bonding with my children even though as at the time you came some of the  were around, but now it’s only me and Olori (my wife). ; except I want to have more children but I am tired but not retired. Also, even my friends have to call me if they want to visit me, but before they can come here anytime and these are some if the things that being an Oba has taken away from me. I love family life and I love taking my children out to notable eateries, but that is no more and I miss that a lot; I only communicate with them most times on the phone through video calls. However, I have no regrets at all because I believe that these are some of the sacrifices one has to make for being a monarch.

For courageously standing by his preaching against the rise tide of insecurity enveloping the country, Sheikh Nuru Khalid, was recently sacked as Chief Imam of Apo Legislative Quarters’ mosque. In this report, GBENGA OMOKHUNU digs into the profile of the now famous cleric who seems to be having the last laugh

Did anyone see the viral video of the Managing Director of the Bank of Agri890culture (BoA), Alwan Ali-Hassan, being paraded by his heavily armed captors shortly before he was released on Wednesday? Ali-Hassan was one of the passengers aboard the ill-fated Abuja-Kaduna train that was attacked by heavily-armed terrorists on March 28. Of course the bank chief is considered one of the ‘lucky’ passengers on the train. The less fortunate among the passengers are either in the morgue or receiving medical attention for varying degrees of injury inflicted on them by their attackers.

There are many other captives from where Ali-Hassan was pulled out and who are still marooned in the terrorists den up to this moment. According to the management of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), no fewer than 146 of the passengers on the ill-fated train are yet to be accounted for. Put succinctly, the entire scenario depicts the helplessness of Nigerians in the face of real and existential threat to their right to life and the dignity of their human person.

The attack on the train was just one in a string of attacks by dare devil terrorists to who nothing is scared. And the fact that the incident got Sheikh Nuru Khalid’s dander up resonates with the mood of every right-thinking Nigerian. Until his sack last week, Khalid was the Chief Imam of Apo Legislative Quarters mosque.  So, using the platform offered by his calling, the now embattled Imam simply amplified the muffled voices of millions of Nigerians during his Friday April 1 Jumat message.

Inside the controversial sermon

In the sermon, the Imam specifically asked the Nigerian voters not to vote for any politician who cannot guarantee them the safety of lives and properties. “We need prayers. We need supplication. This is very important at a time when Nigeria is facing a very serious challenge. Everything is not working well. People are dying. Our roads are not secured. Most part of the country is not secured. The government is always telling us that they are doing their best. But we deserve more than that best as citizens because we want a secured Nigeria.

“What you are telling us is that your concern is about the 2023 elections. And what I am telling the citizens is to send a message that we are going to vote under one condition. Nigerian masses should resort to only one term which is – protect our lives, we will come out to vote; let us be killed, we will not come out to vote, since it’s the only language you understand, we are going to speak it.

“Our lives are important to us. We want to live. Our wealth and dignity are is important as well. You must do something to secure our lives and make our security workable. We cannot afford to be moving like this. People (are) attacking our trains, killing our people as if there is no government in this country. They (bandits) can gather and disseminate intelligence information as if they are a government of their own while our government cannot share information and stop the rubbish on our ways.”

The very next day, Imam Kahlid got suspended by the mosque’s management. The suspension order was signed by the administrative head of the mosque, Senator Saidu Dansadau. The irrepressible Imam was subsequently sacked from his post.

While defending the action, Senator Dansadau accused the Sheik Khalid of inciting public outrage against the government. “I am informing you that you have been suspended from leading prayers in the Apo Legislative Quarters Mosque from today being April 2nd, 2022 until further notice. The decision was taken out of the inciting Friday sermon you delivered on April 1st, 2022; where you advised people.

Despite protesting that he was not given fair hearing, adding that he only read about his suspension, his suspension was upgraded to outright sack. In a letter dated April 4, 2022, the mosque committee told Imam Khalid that he had been relieved of his duties at the mosque. “We regret to inform you that from today the 4th day of April 2023 you have been disengaged from the services of the above-mentioned mosque. This action is occasioned by the non-remorseful attitude you exhibited following your suspension on 2nd April this year.”

The long and short of the cleric’s message is that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has failed abysmally in its primary duty to protect the lives and property of Nigerians. Obviously, many Nigerians believe the cleric spoke their minds, most especially the citizens who fall victim to the incessant bloody attacks by the terrorists. And in the present day Nigeria, everybody is a victim, directly or indirectly. When you are attacked, you become a direct victim; when your loved ones are attacked, you become an indirect victim.

Now, the viral video showing how the BoA MD was paraded and made to speak in a subdued voice aptly underscores the fact that the terrorists are emboldened by the belief that they are indeed operating in a conquered territory. And if anyone is in doubt that Nigeria has been turned into a paradise for terrorists, Sheikh Kahlid isn’t.

Often referred to “digital Imam,” Khalid became popular as a result of his constructive criticisms of the political leadership in the country over the years. The cleric had similarly tackled the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan when the administration was fumbling on national security.

The Imam, who spoke with our correspondent a few hours after his suspension, said: “Instead of destroying me, the suspension has increased my followers, my sympathisers and those who believe in Nigeria are praying for me. The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) released a statement today (Sunday) that the most trending name in Nigeria on Twitter and Facebook is Shiekh Nuru Khalid. So you can see that I have to celebrate.”

Sheikh Khalid, is also the Founder of Islamic Research and Da’awah Foundation. The message in his sermon was similar to the content of a letter authored by Sanusi Lamido II, which led to his dethronement as the Emir of Kano. The Imam specifically told the electorate not to vote for any politician who cannot guarantee the safety of their lives and property.

Before his eventual sack, Sheikh Khalid had said he was willing to face whatever consequences came with calling out the Nigerian President’s inability to tackle the security challenges confronting Nigerians. “If there is no Nigerian to tell you, I will take the responsibility of telling you and I will take the responsibility for the consequences because the lives and properties of Nigerians are above all. Let me tell you, Mr President, under your watch, bandits are demanding, are taxing Nigerians; is that the provision of the Constitution of Nigeria? Under the Constitution of Nigeria, no one has the right to tax any Nigerian except being authorised by the federal government.”

Who is Sheikh Muhammad Nuru Khalid?

Sheikh Khalid hails from Plateau State. The now prominent Islamic cleric was born on October 1, 1960. He had his Western and Islamic education in Jos. He was brought up in a middle class family. His father was an Islamic scholar. Before he went to primary school, he was taught by his father how to read and write Arabic. At the age of six, he had memorised the Quran with some Arabic poems. He attended Local Authority Primary School which is now LGE Primary School in Jos Plateau State. While studying at the University of Jos, he worked as a teacher in the School of Higher Islamic Studies in Jos. He became the Chief Imam of the National Assembly Mosque Zone E, Apo Legislators’ Quarters, Gudu District, Abuja, in 2007. Before becoming the Chief Imam in the Apo mosque, Sheikh Khalid had also served as Chief Imam of Nyanya mosque, also in Abuja. He has been consistent in speaking truth to power over issues bordering on insecurity and hydra headed crises plaguing the country. The cleric’s growing influence has seen him addressing over 5,000 people physically and virally during his Friday congregational prayer session, Khutbah. His annual Ramadan digital Tafseer, which is aired on television, radio stations and internet live stream broadcasting, has been attracting thousands of viewers in Nigeria and across the world.

After his sack, Khalid announced that he has been appointed by the management committee of a new Jum’mat Mosque behind the Central Bank Nigeria (CBN) Quarters, Abuja, to lead the congregation with effect from Friday, April 8. Khalid had said the termination of his appointment by the Apo mosque’s management committee was a necessary price he had to pay for identifying with the suffering masses and speaking the truth to power.

“My sack is a reflection of how Nigeria is today. Many people are hiding under the cover of religion to perpetrate all manner of unwholesome acts. Such people would stop at nothing to take away people like me, who are pro-masses and bold enough to speak the truth to power always on behalf of voiceless Nigerians. This is the price we pay for aligning with the people and identifying with their suffering. “By the Grace of Almighty Allah, I will be leading my new congregation this Friday, because as clerics we need a platform for operation…”

Many Nigerians found his removal outrageous, arguing that Khalid merely expressed his constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech. The question on the lips of many Nigerians is: Which rule did Khalid break that led to his sack by the management committee of the Apo Mosque? Is it to send the signal that all is well with the nation and that Imam Khalid ranting unnecessarily?

In Abuja communities, endemic poverty, poor hygiene and lack of awareness about malnutrition symptoms are some underlying factors contributing to the endemic status of acute malnutrition crisis ravaging the suburbs, reports RACHEAL ABUJAH

Baby Testimony, two-year-old from Bako, a rural setting in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, weighs about 6.3kg and can neither sit nor stand on his own. He has so far survived by whiskers from acute malnutrition perhaps by the virtue of his name.

His mother, Mrs Bashira Bulus, said her son’s undernourishment worsened because of late detection and treatment, a situation she blamed on her poor awareness of the symptoms. Bashira said she had no basic knowledge of childbearing especially because she lost her mother at the age of 13. Now aged 20, Bashira said she resorted to advise from her neighbors when Testimony developed a chest infection, fever, diarrhea, and was vomiting – some of the common symptoms of severe wasting – the nutritional deficiency that about 13.6 million children around the world suffer from, putting them at 11 times greater risk of death than their healthy peers.

Following her neighbor’s advice that her son only stopped eating and took ill because he was trying to grow a tooth, Mrs. Bashira Bulus started administering ‘Baba Aisha’ on Testimony. Baba Aisha is an herbal concoction that heals toothache. “I took my neighbors’ advice because they are older and more experienced than me in childbearing but unfortunately, Baba Aisha failed and my son’s condition became worst,” she said.

The 20-year-old Bashira said it was then that Testimony was rushed to the Primary Health Centre in the community but due to the poor state of the facility, the child was further referred to the Kwali General Hospital. “When we got to the general hospital, my son did not pass the appetite test and the doctor said he has a major nutrition complication, so we were admitted.

“Sold for about N1,200 per sachet, Bashira said her son was given ‘F75 formula,’ a nutritious milk that boosts the recovery of normal metabolic function and nutrition-electrolytic balance which significantly improved Testimony’s health. The duration of this milk the doctor told my husband was for 2-7 days until our son is stabilised. Apart from the first two we bought, we could no longer afford this milk after we were discharged from the hospital in December 2021,” she explained.

As she could no longer afford the ‘F75 formula’, Bashira resorted to getting RUTF from the designated CMAM Primary Health Centre in Kwali, but that attempt remained futile as the nutritious food was never available. “We were referred to the PHC where we were told that the RUFT was no longer available. The lady there kept on telling me to go and come all the time and I pay N150 to that place for transportation every day,” she narrated.

Although rural communities around Kwali local government area of the FCT are just about a few kilometres from the Abuja main city, many of them are lacking in a lot of essential but basic amenities such as quality health centres, electricity and pipe-borne water. Due to the timid nature of these communities, many nursing mothers in Kwali and environs are also facing a familiar ordeal as Bashira. The only quality health facility in the area is the Kwali General hospital, that attend to people from Abaji and also Gwagwalada.

Mrs Praise Sunday, a mother of three-year-old triplets, all suffering with SAM, narrated their critical condition as they currently weigh 7kg and are also being treated at the Kwali General Hospital. Sunday, who is a housewife, said the condition of her triplets had worsened as they could not get the ‘F75 formula’ or medicine needed to help them overcome SAM.

She said she could not also access the free treatment or get the RUTF at the designated CMAM centre in Kwali community because officials at the CMAM centre told her that her triplets have outgrown RUFT. “I stopped taking my kids to the general hospital because the treatment is no longer free and it’s what we cannot afford compared to the past. Our situation has worsened because previously before the triplets arrived, my husband was working but presently, he hardly finds work. The situation is painful because the triplets fall sick all the time. They vomit and have diarrhea at the same time,” Mrs Sunday said.

Asides the triplets, Mrs Sunday previously had three kids but the mother of six said she had no experience about malnutrition before or seen or known any one with such situation. “I was very afraid when they were detected with SAM,” she narrated.

The Etsu of Kwali, His Royal Highness (HRH), Alhaji Shaban Audu Nizazo (III) shared the story of one Ms Precious, whose husband ran away after her twin were detected with SAM. “They brought the matter to my palace so I had to send money to the general hospital for those twins to be treated. Truly treatments for SAM are not free because we paid for that lady,” he narrated, adding that fortunately, the twins survived after receiving treatment.

Nizazo called on the government at all levels to sit up by addressing the crushing indices and causes of malnutrition that have continued to deprive “our children and mothers of a healthy and productive life span.” The royal father recommended remedial programmes to support SAM mothers and more support for those in rural farming through input subsidies and high producer prices, improving rural credit schemes. “Mother’s empowerment is an important indicator of their child’s nutritional status,” he noted.

The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Kwali General Hospital, Dr. Halima Lawal Bello, stated that job and income insecurity are the primary drivers of the poor outcomes often observed among their paediatric patients. “Most often, when you ask why this child is malnourished, the mothers will always tell you they do not have enough food to eat, they are not working, and at the end of the month, there is no earning or salary to purchase food for the family. Instead, every day, they go on the hustle to find some kind of work to enable them to find food for their family,” Bello said.

She said that children treated for malnutrition on an inpatient basis were at heightened risk for relapse when they return to a home environment characterized by severe deprivation. “After discharge from our facility, malnourished children are given RUTFs and/or other supplemental fortified foods for recovery. However, mothers reported that when they returned home with a malnourished child, they were compelled to divide RUTFs supplied by the health facility among other children or family members in the household. In other cases, these rations are sold to meet other needs,” she stressed.

According to her, RUFT programme has ended and also some organizations providing the hospital with F75 and F100 formula, which malnourished children used to get for free, are no longer available. “We have to buy the formula and prepare them at the moment and charge a token of about a N1,000 or so. Even at that, parents still need to buy some medicines which they are unable to buy in most cases.”

She added that many malnourished children develop burn marks on their bodies and the medicines to treat them are not available for free. “No one denies that the role of RUFT in helping malnourished people is important, but it doesn’t provide patients with the medicines for scorches and burns.”

Bello noted that these children can survive if they are treated on time. But many parents are unable to afford the treatment; sometimes they run away with their children from the hospital; some of them give fake names; and fake home addresses because they are unable to pay their hospital bills.

Nutrition experts attribute the continuous staggering statistics of malnutrition in the country to the government’s lack of specific budget for nutrition and a strategic plan of action. They said, for instance, a 2018 report by the International Center for Investigative Reporting mirrored how the government has been slashing funds for nutritional programmes designed to save thousands of lives. They added that the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 had equally pushed nutrition further down on the government’s priority list. But advocates warn that the cost of ignoring the ripple effects of malnutrition cannot be quantified in human and economic terms.

Having observed the ordeal mothers such as Mrs Bashira Bulus and Mrs Praise Sunday are subjected to due to poor awareness and poverty, the International Society for Media in Public Health (ISMPH) – an organisation galvanising critical reporting of health-related issues, launched a Media Advocacy/Empowerment Strategy for the Prevention and Management of SAM.

Meanwhile, with support from the European Union Agents for Citizen Driven Transformation, the advocacy campaign for 2022 is focused specifically in two local government areas of the FCT namely: Bwari and Kwali – where cases of SAM are noted to be prevalent. “The project will be implemented in Bwari and Kwali local governments and the target is mothers from low-income households in vulnerable communities, uneducated/unemployed/single rural dwelling mothers and mothers living with disability and struggling to provide care for their children,” Mrs Moji Makajuonla, ISMPH Executive Director, said.

The Federal Government has implemented various initiatives to address severe acute malnutrition (SAM) across the country. Although the principle strategy remains “inpatient” care, there is a growing consensus that community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) is a crucial approach for achieving widespread, effective coverage and treatment of all children with SAM in Nigeria.

Under CMAM, malnourished children, who are between six months and five years, are given ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) for about two months. RUTF is a peanut-based paste, which contains milk powder, sugar, and multiple micronutrients.

In Nigeria, SAM is real and despite efforts of international organisations like the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Department for International Development (DFID), the crisis persists. The reality is that the number of children treated only scratches the surface of the problem as more people are either displaced or trapped in their communities in the country.

Sadly, even though malnutrition is the underlying cause for a third of child mortality in the world, it is yet to receive the nature of high-profile campaigning and investment necessary to address it effectively in the Kwali area council of the Federal Capital Territory (FTC). Poverty, poor knowledge and awareness of malnutrition symptoms, and basic nutritious consumables as well as poor hygiene are some underlying factors equally contributing to the endemic status of acute malnutrition in Nigeria, where gender divisions of labour, gender norms and identities, access to and control over resources, and limited autonomy and bargaining positions within the family and community limit poor women’s ability to use healthcare services, including during pregnancy, delivery, or children with SAM.

The advent of highly-nutritious, ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF), among other key nutrition programmes, has helped in saving millions of children from the severest forms of malnutrition, especially in developing countries. Despite several nutritional programmes launched over a decade ago in Nigeria to stem the scourge of malnutrition in Africa’s most populous nation, progress has been slow; and this has largely been attributed to inadequate local funding and government inactions.

But the prevalence of malnutrition in Nigeria goes beyond government funding. It is ingrained in those structural, cultural and physiological predispositions that hinder many Nigerians from considering nutrition as a priority in the light of other biting priorities. According to the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey 2018, the health indices of vulnerable populations are poor: maternal mortality rate is 512 per 100,000 live births; the modern contraceptive prevalence rate is 17 per cent for all family planning methods; the neonatal mortality rate is 39 per 1,000 live births; the under-five mortality rate remains 132 per 1,000 live births, which translates to one in every eight children not reaching their fifth birthday.

According to the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, “severe malnutrition has also been a factor in Nigeria with 37 per cent of children under five years suffering from stunting, affecting about 12 million children; while 7 per cent of under-five children in Nigeria are wasted; 2 per cent are overweight and 23 per cent underweight.”

Ehanire stated that among identified impediments to the attainment of desired health and wellbeing in Nigeria were lack of functional and affordable health centers that limit physical and financial access to healthcare and enlightenment needed to combat harmful traditional or socio-cultural practices and strengthen the decision-making power to seek appropriate healthcare before, during and after pregnancy or ill-health.

“Poor awareness of hygiene and sanitation, poor choices in nutrition that omit foods like eggs, beef and fish in the diet of growing children, ignorance of the benefits of modern health services and culturally determined gender role definitions particularly impact the wellbeing of females and children in some communities. The deleterious practices inevitably increase susceptibility to infections, slow down recovery from illness, and contribute to preventable morbidity and mortality rates, especially among women, children and the elderly,” he added.

• Abujah is with the News Agency of Nigeria