The Federal Government and Africare Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation, have embarked on sensitisation campaigns in various communities to promote the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, popularly known as cooking gas.
Speaking on behalf of the government at a community outreach programme on the importance of using cooking gas in place of firewood, kerosene or charcoal, in Abuja, the Programme Manager, National LPG Expansion Plan at the Office of the Vice President, Mr. Dayo Adeshina, said several initiative was taken to increase the distribution of cooking gas.
He said: “This is a programme that is quite important and has been going on for over a year and we are going to expand it nationwide. The idea is to ensure that everyone switches to gas and several initiatives are being taken in both the supply and distribution of gas.
“This government has bought into the programmes of the LPG association and you can see that the President has signed onto 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. There is a lot of deforestation and about 19 states are suffering this because people are cutting down trees for firewood. And this needs to stop.
“Now, the only way to stop that is by the increased usage of the LPG. Well over four million people die yearly worldwide as a result of inhaling fumes from bad fuels like kerosene, firewood and charcoal. So right now, the LPG production is widely available in Nigeria but supply and distribution are areas we need to focus on.
The Country Director, Africare Nigeria, Orode Doherty, said the benefits of using the LPG were far higher than the use of charcoal, kerosene and firewood.
This, she said, was why the NGO decided to take the sensitisation campaigns to various communities in Nigeria.
Dorcas Egede, in the concluding part of her investigative report ‘DEAD ON ARRIVAL: Inside Abuja communities where twins are killed at birth,’ continues her narrative of the bizarre infanticide still going on in communities around Abuja. But many within the communities deny that the killings are happening. They would not even admit that they’ve ever been involved in the practice. Yet the evidence is glaring.
Synopsis of Part 1
LAST week, The Nation published the first part of this feature, Dead on Arrival, which revealed the shocking practice in which locals in some communities around the nation’s capital, Abuja, still kill twin children at birth. Not only that, multiple birth children, including triplets and quadruplets suffer the same fate; same for infants who lose their mothers at birth – they are considered evil. Children born with disabilities, physical or psychological, such as cleft lips, deformed hands or leg, Down syndrome and albinos are also not spared.
Our reporter also visited some of the communities, hoping to zero down on communities involved in the evil practice, but ‘mum’ turned out to be the word, as they all virtually denied involvement in the practice. This edition is a continuation of her itinerary into the communities.
Death culture not binding on strangers
Over the years and owing to migration, people from other ethnic backgrounds have been coexisting with the Bassa people, leading to bigger and more complex communities. Expectedly, their cultures are not binding on these strangers. Olusola Stevens, the missionary from Osun State, who has been rescuing and grooming the infants in his Vine Heritage Home in Kiyi (a suburb of Abuja) said, “There are people living among them from other tribes who are raising children they consider abominable. Two of the missionaries working under me have given birth to twins here before, and do you know the strange thing? The villagers were coming to see the children and asking how they were surviving.
•A young girl onher way to fetch water in Kiyi river
“There was a set of twins in Gwagwalada Area Council, Josiah and Joshua, and another in Kaida, James and John; they have relocated to Kogi State now. When these twins were born in Kaida, the villagers asked, “Do you know twins don’t survive in this community?” How would you want to keep your twins there? In fact, the parents became afraid and had to bring the children to stay with me for a while. But I encouraged them to pray. I told them that as long as they do not physically snatch the children from them or attack them, they should be rest assured that they would never be able to touch them spiritually. So, they stayed with me for about five months and returned. They were there until the children were about two or three years before they left.
The mercantile informant
In the course of her long search for culpable communities, this reporter eventually met a source with ‘a special interest.’ His interest, he said, is influenced by the fact that he has two sets of twins and can’t bear the thought of them being killed. He has also suffered setbacks, particularly financial, in the course of registering an NGO like Stevens’. He boasted of having the information this reporter required, but would only reveal it at a price – a huge sum.
“Any family that kills twins would build two shrines in their compound to say ‘Bye-bye, we don’t want you again in our family’ to twins children. There are evidences.” But that’s as much as he went before insisting on cash for information deal.
When asked why he was bent on receiving cash for information and why the whole thing is shrouded in secrecy, he said, “It’s not that we are hiding it, we are just trying to prevent a lot of issues; we are trying to protect our nation too from bad image in the eyes of the outside world.”
His other reason somewhat betrayed his covetous mindset: “When you write this story you will win millions. I know where this story can take you to, because you’re getting it raw.”
Gomani, Kwali Area Council
Gomani is a neigbouring village to Dogonruwa. Both communities drink from the same river, in which they also do their laundry, bathe, fish and all sorts. In Gomani, this reporter met some elders of the community seated by the gate to the traditional ruler’s palace. The elders told the reporter and her team that they could not see their leader as he was in a meeting, but assured her that they could answer all her questions.
It was almost as if they had received word from Dogonruwa, as their responses were exactly the same. “We don’t reject twins,” they chorused. And, “we would be too happy to have them, even if we have 10 at once.”
Kaida, Gwari Area Council
At Kaida, this reporter, posing as someone with a mission of sharing relief materials to the local women, met a local missionary, whose name cannot be revealed in order not to jeopardise his safety. He said the killings have stopped in Kaida, but still happening in neighbouring communities.
“About the twins here, no problem. But this people after Gurara river, are the ones who are still involved in the practice. They don’t like twins; when they have them, they sacrifice them to their gods.” He revealed however that the practice is no longer as rampant as it used to be. “Some people who have not accepted Christ still do it. But those young ones who have accepted Christ, when they know that a woman has given birth to twins, they quickly tell pastor in Kuje (referring to Stevens), who will quickly come and carry the children.” He said.
Kiyi Across, Kuje Area Council
This is a very small settlement by the bank of a river in Kiyi. It is called Kiyi Across because it is just beyond the river. To reach the row of not more than 15 mud houses, the reporter had to go through a bush path after wading through the river on foot. The first house was sighted right after this reporter emerged from the bush. This is where Habiba’s father lives. Habiba, it would be recalled, was the 21-year-old who survived the killings in her native Kiyi. She was the first child rescued by Stevens and groomed in his the Vine Heritage Home. Her narrative and that of her mother, who left her father as a result of the practice (Part 1) threw a lot of light on the despicable practice and helped situate this reporter’s mission.
With her help, the team was able to cross the river, even though they had been told it’s impossible to reach the community until around the end of January.
Something that has the semblance of a fence (a vertical slab, made from mud) demarcates the house from the nearly encroaching bush. Embossed on the wall of the house is the shrine erected for the twins. This shrine looks more like two kangaroo pouches placed side-by-side. It is positioned between a door and window, both made from rusted aluminum roofing sheet.
•A house in Kiyi
Inside the shrine, which was covered with white clothes, now brown and tattered with age, were white chicken feathers, 5 naira notes and some other unrecognisable items.
Several hours with Habiba’s father however revealed nothing. He flatly denied having ever sacrificed twins, let alone three sets. While he agreed to have lost two sets of twins at infancy, he revealed that one set died of illnesses and that the other was still born.
According to him, they never at any time sacrificed twins. “We don’t sacrifice twins. I had about two sets of twins; the first set came out alive and one later died. The second set of twins both came out dead and we buried them.”
How come twins don’t survive among them? This reporter asked. His reply was, “I don’t know why it is so, but God spares some and they live.”
While he denied killing three sets of twins, he however admitted to having a shrine upon which he sacrifices to the twins yearly. He said this was a practice handed down to his generation by their forefathers. “We sacrifice two goats or fowls once a year, depending on our ability. We eat the meat and the blood is for the gods. That’s how our fathers did in those days and we have simply continued.”
No government presence, high maternal mortality rate
One thing is common in all the villages visited. As close as the government seems to them, evidence of civilisation still appear rare and far between. There are no schools, no health centres, no roads, no electricity and no pipe borne water. They drink from rivers herdsmen and their cattle wade through and drink from. They also bathe; wash their kitchen utensils and clothes in it. With this level of hygiene, it may not be really difficult to ascertain the source of Habiba’s father’s river blindness.
Is it any surprise too that maternal mortality rate here is prevalently high? In the absence of clinics, deliveries are taken by traditional birth attendants or some untrained ‘nurses’ whose only training stemmed from watching their late parents or some relative practice ‘medicine’. Speaking on the maternal mortality rate, Stevens said, “In a matter of one week, we can have up to three nursing mothers die in different communities and the children come here, some a day or two old. This morning for instance, I took a set of twins to the hospital for immunisation, although the twin brother didn’t survive, the twin sister did. They were preterm babies, so at some time, the girl was on an injection of N8,500 per week. These are the challenges.”
No unified data
Sadly however, a visit to the Gender Department of the Social Development secretariat revealed that not much is being done by the department in interfacing with the rescue home in Kuje.
In a chat with Mrs. Agnes Hart Uta, Director, Gender, Social Development Secretariat, she said there are currently 40 children in the rescue home. This showed a wide disparity in the numbers given by the home and the secretariat. Stevens gave the number of children in the home as 125. The secretariat also had no idea that the first child rescued by the home had now reunited with her family. Again, while Stevens gave the number of communities involved in the killings as about 62, the directorate put the number at up to 40.
This development is a clear indication that the directorate charged with the responsibility of handling matters relating to child welfare in the FCT does not have up to date information about the killings and has not been doing so much in interfacing with the child rescuer.
•The reporter and her tour guide wading through the Kiyi river
Work in progress
The killing of infants in communities around the FCT is not a fairy tale. Also true is the fact that it is not as widely practiced as it used to be some 20 years back. The practice has also completely stopped in about seven communities and they now keep every kind child born, multiple births or deformed. But there are communities still steeped in the culture and yet to start accepting those children considered abominable. Rather than kill them however, they take them to the rescue home.
This of course is a result of efforts of missionaries and the rescue home, as well as government intervention activities. As you enter Kuje area council for instance, there is a bill board erected by the Federal Capital Territory Administrator (FCTA). written in English, Hausa and Basa is, “Twins are from God. Protect them.”
Commenting on the progress of the interventions, Stevens noted, “To be fair to the people, there have been so many areas of intervention from the FCT Administration; they investigated and found it to be true, then they set up committees to work with the communities affected. And they did well by visiting and engaging the communities. But the good news today, which I always want everybody to talk about, is that some communities have completely stopped while some who are no longer killing still have it at the back of their mind that the children are evil, hence they can’t keep them.
•Saved: Babies at the Vine Heritage home
Of about 62 communities that were into the killing, some under Kuje, Gwagwalada, Kwali, Abaji; six to seven communities, Kiyi, Tumgbudu, Kutara, Nasarawa, Zuyi have stopped completely. There are some I haven’t documented, who told me they have stopped. But I don’t tell about them until I have verified. When I went the other time, some of the villages told me about other villages where they have stopped, but it is difficult to access some of the communities during the rainy, season. When dry season sets in, I’ll be moving round again to check out these other communities.
“We are looking forward to a day when the practice will be a thing of the past. I commend those who are bringing the children here. For them to have given the children to us is a good thing. It means people are now challenging the culture; government is talking to them about it, awareness is increasing and the people are getting exposed.”
Area Councils shortchanging the communities –FCTA
Curious to know what the government is doing to stop the killing, or reduce it to the barest minimum, this reporter visited the Information and Communication Department of the Federal Capital Territory Administration. Below is an excerpt of a chat with its Acting Director, Mrs. Stella Ojeme.
THE public would like to know what the government is doing to stop the killing of infants going on in certain communities around the FCT.
When it got to the attention of the administration that certain communities in some area councils were engaging in this, the former minister set up a panel that went to investigate and when it was discovered that it was actually going on, we were directed to go round these area councils and do some sensitisation that children are a gift from God, and that even if they’re twins, they are supposed to be seen as double blessing. So, we went round all the area councils, even as far as Abaji. We went to the palaces of the chiefs, called all the villagers and spoke to them; and they responded that even though it was an age long practice, with the enlightenment we had given to them, they’ve come to understand that it is wrong to dispose of their twin children.
Apart from the fact that it is against the law of God, we also told them that it is against the laws of the land. And they promised to stop. Occasionally, we do follow-up visits to see if there were changes. Some communities have stopped the practice, to be honest; but some are still stuck to their tradition. We are planning to go again and do a follow-up. We are waiting for approval. You know when we go for such sensitisations, we have to go with security agencies. If we go on our own without approval, and anything happens, we will have ourselves to blame.
How frequent are the sensitisation programmes, bearing in mind the need to regularly interface with these communities?
“We have had two sensitisation programmes this year. This one we are preparing for is the third. Once we get the approval, we will assemble the team and go. This photo-book is a record of our work in the communities. Anytime we want to go for follow-up, we show them pictures of our earlier visit and remind them of what we told them. We keep all these and use it to remind them that “you made us a promise that you will stop killing your twins, we heard that you have started again.”
If we hear that infants are being killed in parts of the FCT, it is only appropriate for us to know which communities have stopped these killings.
To protect the traditional rulers, I will not give you the names of the communities that are still doing this. You know we told them that it’s against the laws of the land. But these are communities that have stopped: Gomani, Tekpese, Gurdi, Wurambi, Shetuko, Kiyi, apart from major town like Kwali, Kuje, Yaba.
One of the commonest reasons for maternal mortality is lack of proper care during pregnancy or a result of complications during child birth. My visit to these communities revealed that only very few of them have primary health centres. What is the government doing about this?
I’m happy you asked this question, because it’s always been an issue between the FCTA and the Area Councils. You know why? The Area Councils have the jurisdiction of these communities. Now, there are allocations that are given by the federal government to the Area Councils. Every single month when allocations are released, every area council chairman comes here and collect their council’s share to the last kobo. The honourable minister has never withheld one single kobo of their allocation. It is with this allocation they are supposed to take care of their Area Councils and these communities. We are just to be stepping in when they fail or when there is a shortfall, but what they are now doing is to shelf all of these responsibilities to the administration.
In situations where we find that the allocation given is not sufficient, the administration steps in through the department of health and human resources. They go there and assist them with personnel, drugs, and sometimes, buildings. If you go there, most of all the buildings are FCT buildings. What do the area councils do?
Is it possible that the allocations are not sufficient, considering the vastness of these area councils?
If they say the allocations are no sufficient, I’m aware that the national assembly has given some of our revenue bases to them to be collecting. Right now there’s an approval given to the area councils to collect tenement rates. This is what we used to collect, it was the revenue of the FCT; but when they were complaining, the national assembly looked at the constitutionality of everything and said, “any building that is on your land, collect tenement rate.’ …tenement rate is tax on every building standing on their soil. And it is to be charged either on monthly or yearly basis. So, if they have given this approval and they have started collecting in addition to the allocations, what are they doing with it? But it still doesn’t stop the administration, whenever we hear health complaints of so and so, the health department steps in. It’s the same thing with education. Go to the local government chairmen and ask them what they do with their allocations on a monthly basis.
During my investigations, I realised that the matter is shrouded in so much secrecy; some even say the government has warned people from talking about it because it is putting the FCT in bad light.
How will the same government that came to tell you to stop doing it also tell you not to talk about it? We told them that it is against the laws of the land and if they don’t stop doing it, we will allow the law to step in. We told them that anybody who commits murder would also be killed. So, they are shrouding it in secrecy only because they are afraid of the law.
Does the administration interface with the Kuje missionary rescuing infants from being killed?
I’m aware of what he does. He is helping us. We see his good work on TV. We have a secretariat that is called Social Development Secretariat. They are the ones who interface with the man since it has to do with children. We are supposed to do the work of intervention, step in when there is a shortfall, but now they are making it look like it’s our responsibility.
The journey started from Lagos. The objective was to understand the current status of primary health care (PHC) in respect of ante natal, child delivery and post-natal services for pregnant women in Ohunbe, a community in Ketu Local Council Development Area, Ogun State.
Ordinarily, the 102-kilometre journey from Lagos to Ohunbe should take less than four hours by road. But it took more hours because of the appalling conditions of the roads.
Ohunbe is essentially an agrarian community made up largely of peasant farmers and petty traders. It shares the same features with many other neighbouring villages that share border with the Republic of Benin.
A tale of neglect
Ohunbe Primacy Health Center was an answer to the prayers of thousands of women in the 21 communities in the area, who would benefit from the affordable and quality healthcare the PHC promised when it was established in 1976. However, as the years rolled by, rot set in. The dream of affordable and quality health care dimmed. Now, it is a mirage. Indeed, our reporter arrived at the facility under the scorching sun to meet the entrance door firmly locked.
There are not enough words to describe the pathetic condition of the health centre. It is a metaphor for neglect, pains and abandonment. The health facility, which had been under lock and key for more than nine months before it was reopened in June, 2017, was locked up with a big padlock when our reporter visited on a sunny afternoon. It was the first indication that all was not well with the health facility.
The situation naturally provokes the question: what happens in case of emergency in the village when there is need to attend to a patient? An enquiry our reporter made from one of the community’s elders, Pa Amos Olaleye, offered little as the octogenarian said the health officials at the clinic don’t.
built for the community in 1976 and how a baby girl was the first to be born at the centre.
According to Pa Olaleye, the centre was being run effectively in 1976 with patients coming from different communities for child delivery until neglect set in. Abandoned by the relevant authorities, he said, the condition of the health facility deteriorated to the extent that residents of the affected communities no longer patronise it and would rather seek treatment, including antenatal and child delivery services, at private clinics in the Republic of Benin.
The implication, according to him, is that birth certificates for Nigerian babies are issued by clinics in Benin Republic, and such certificates bear the seal of the government of the Federal Republic of Benin.
“Our wives in this community and 20 others are visiting Republic of Benin because our government has stopped bringing medicine to the centre. There is nowhere to take care of our children. We depend on the Republic of Benin,” he said.
He lamented that the moribund health facility, which was meant to provide health care services to 20 other villages in the area, has a staff of one nurse and a volunteer health worker who had not been paid for two years.
The villages that should benefit from the services of the now dilapidated primary health centre, according to Pa Olaleye, include Igbeme, Itakasi, Kobejo, Kobejo I, Kobejo II, Kobejo III, Abikanlu, Gbokoto and Pedepo. Others are Abule Idi, Obelle, Ibayun, Sawmill, Opata, Iyameta, Asa, Mosan, Alabata, Abepe and Igbodo.
The octogenarian said the PHC, which was reopened in June, 2017, hardly has patients even when it is opened because the residents of the affected communities are used to going to the Republic of Benin for health care.
“The workers do not live here. They live in another local government area that is very far from here. They go away after the close of work on Friday and come back on Sunday evening or Monday morning. So, if a patient goes to the clinic at the weekend, the place will be empty,” Pa Olaleye said.
With the help of a guide named Sunday, our reporter visited many of the affected villages and spoke with some pregnant women and village heads who said the health centre was not being patronized because of its dilapidated condition and absence of medical personnel.
Sunday, a school proprietor who doubled as an okada (commercial motorcycle) rider, took our reporter first to Ibayun where he met the village head, Chief Jimoh Atere. His pregnant wife, Deborah, explaining how she was taking care of herself in pregnancy, said she had not visited Ohunbe community Health Centre even though it is close to Ibayun village, because the centre was closed and there were no health workers to attend to patients.
So, how did Deborah get antenatal care? “From a nearby private health centre,” she said.
Complaining about the dilapidated state of the Ohunbe health centre, Chief Atere said: “Our people here don’t visit the health centre because of its pathetic state. And the reason they don’t go there is because government is not paying attention to the centre.”
Simon Oladobe, Chief Atere’s friend, who was listening all the while, volunteered to take the reporter to his own village, Abule Idi. With Sunday, his guide, they rode on a motorcycle to Abule Idi, led Oladobe who rode on his own private motorcycle.
After a fairly long ride through a dusty road, they finally arrived Abule Idi but only met the wife of the village head who said that her husband had gone to the farm. At Oladobe’s home, where there was neither electricity nor any social infrastructure, he lamented over what the villagers endure before having childbirth.
“Our people don’t go to the health centre in Ohunbe for anything. It’s easier for us to go to Pobe in the Republic of Benin where they give us medicine and good health care services. None of my three children was born in Nigeria. They were all born in Benin Republic and their birth certificates were issued by the government of the Republic of Benin. In fact, their certificates are issued in French language,” he said.
To convince the reporter that he meant every word, he asked his wife to fetch their children’s birth certificates whose contents the reporter could not digest because he does not speak French.
At Obele, a border community with Benin Republic, the village head, Chief Lana Ogundipe, said the women of Obele had completely abandoned Ohunbe Health Centre because of its decrepit condition.
He said: “We used to attend the Ohunbe clinic before, but we do not go there anymore because of its pathetic condition. The health centre in Ohunbe is dead. Women in Obele now go to Republic of Benin to be delivered of babies.”
He also lamented the absence of basic amenities such as electricity, water, road and healthcare for the pregnant women who have to ride motorcycle to give birth in the Republic of Benin.
“The politicians see us as villagers in the Republic of Benin. That is why they don’t care to give us amenities here. But when it is election period, they remember that we are Nigerians. Nothing is happening here”, Ogunlana said.
He later led the reporter behind a building that served as his palace where the foundation of a health centre was laid by a former Military Administration of Ogun State, Daniel Akintonde, who had promised to build it between 1993 and 1999. Now the foundation is covered by weeds.
At Igbemi village, one of the 15 villages the reporter visited, he met the community head, Alhaji Sanni Yekini, who also explained that women in his village had stopped visiting the Ohunbe health centre because the facility was in a state of utter neglect.
He said: “As Nigerians, we are unhappy to give birth to our children in the Republic of Benin. My son cannot be proud of being born in Benin Republic. As a Nigerian, why should I give birth to my children in the Republic of Benin? But we lack all the basic amenities here. It is during elections that they remember that we exist. After getting what they need, they disappear.
“During elections, I gather all my chiefs to educate the people on what to do to have their voter cards and vote for their choice candidates, because I have 11 communities under me.”
At Igbeme, Kobejo, Ijoko, Abikanlu and Ita-Kasia, the story was the same. However, at Itakasia, we met a heavily pregnant woman named Titilayo Mosuro, who had trekked a long distance to fetch potable water for her family.
Explaining what she had to endure to access antenatal care, she said she had never visited the Ohunbe Health Centre as she had been attending a private clinic at Oja Odan, a popular town frequented by people in the 21 villages.
According to her, moving from Itakasia to Oja Odan is a pathetic experience, as she had to trek about two kilometres from Itakasia to reach the main road where she would board a motorbike to Oja Odan. That she had been doing in the last seven months.
The village head, Chief Johnson Ayinla, who narrated the challenges pregnant women in the village faced, said: “Because of the long distance, before the women could reach the Ohunbe health facility, they would have been delivered prematurely on the road. So, the Republic of Benin has taken what belongs to Nigeria.
“For our women to give birth, we have to spend huge sums to use their clinics. There are times that they don’t even give us the respect we deserve. Some of our women who cannot afford the cost of delivery at the clinics in the Republic of Benin have had to be delivered of their babies at home, using herbs.”
At Ijoko, our reporter met a home-trained doctor, David Agbo, who hails from the Republic of Benin and serves as the village doctor. Agbo never attended a medical school but was trained as a medical practitioner at a private clinic in the Republic of Benin. He lives in Ijoko and attends to his patients from one room in the village. His clinic is named Pouvoir du Seigneur (Power of God).
According to Agbo, the villagers believe in him to deliver genuine medical service to them, as he had been practising for almost a year. Agbo said he came to the village because the village lacked medical services.
He said: “I did not attend any university. I was trained at a local clinic in the Republic of Benin. I don’t have a certificate to practise. I do not have any permit to work as a doctor in Nigeria. I just came here and started working,” he said.
Asked how he handles emergency child labour, he said he does not handle emergency cases. “Emergency cases are sent to a better clinic in the Republic of Benin,” he said.
State of Ohunbe Primary Health Centre
Dorcas Adunni Tijani is the Assistant Chief Nurse who was transferred to the centre in June last year after the facility was locked up for almost a year. She resumed duty on June 5, 2017.
She said: “When I resumed here, I discovered that the villagers do not attend the facility. I accosted the village chief and complained about the development. I appealed to the villagers and requested to know what I can do to ensure they attend the health centre.
“I had a meeting with the pregnant women in the villages and asked them why they have shunned the centre. I was told the women attend Pobe, Republic of Benin, for immunization and ante natal care.”
She admitted that with the condition of the health centre, it would be difficult to convince the people to patronise it.
“Look, we do not have a bed to sleep on. We do not have any equipment. There is no staff. If there were equipment, a patient will be glad to attend the clinic to receive treatment,” she said.
Tijani said that since she resumed duties at the clinic, she had been submitting reports of activities at the centre in Abeokuta. “I am the only person that does this. We go for outreach to administer immunization to the communities with only two staff, and it is sometimes heartbreaking.
“We need staff and equipment. I had to employ an assistant out of my own desire, but the government said I cannot employ an assistant on my own,” she said.
Asked why the villagers prefer clinics in the Republic of Benin, Tijani said a former staff said it is because the facility is usually unmanned whenever they visit the centre at Ohunbe. Now, I am also sick. I need treatment,” she said.
Tijani said she has no other staff to assist with the work load in the facility but a woman named Rachel Idowu had been volunteering work at the clinic since 2014 but without any compensation.
Idowu herself said: “When I first got here, noting was happening. I was just sleeping. People were not coming; they were going to Republic of Benin. We later did sensitization for the people and to some of these villages. It was then that a few of them started coming once in a while.”
In an inspection of the facility, Idowu took our reporter to all the rooms which were all empty. There was no single mattress or any basic equipment. Even the main room Idowu described as ward had no ceiling.
Asked what a big clay pot at a corner in the labour room was meant for, she said: “That is where we fetch water from.”
Government’s intervention
Hon. Moses Adegbite, the new Executive Chairman of Ketu Local Council Development Area where Ohunbe Health Centre is located, admitted that the health center was short of staff and was faced with challenges due to paucity of funds in the council. Adegbite said the government had come up with some programmes to alleviate some of the challenges at the primary health centre.
On access to health care, the council boss said there is a Federal Government programme assisted by the World Bank to make all the villages in the country have access to health and market centres
He also said the state government had been doing well in creating programmes to take care of women and children from age one to five, including provision of free medical services. He cited the maternity center in Oja Odan as one of the beneficiaries of the initiative.
Adegbite said as soon as the council got the necessary funding, there would be total change in the status of Ohunbe Community Health Centre, which would grant the people in the villages access to good health care.
Adegbite said: “We want to do a lot of renovations to the health centre so that it will look good. We will renovate it and bring new equipment into the facility.
“We have another centre at Obele, which is being processed by the World Health Organisation. We want them to assist us in putting the structure in place so that our people will not be going to the Republic of Benin to give birth.”
The Ogun State Commissioner for Information, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, put the blame of the condition of the health centre largely on the local development council, saying that it did not inform the state government about the plight of the residents or request for support from the state government.
“We are not responsible for managing primary health centres (PHCs) and we don’t also provide human resource because of the principle of separation of power. It is in the purview of local governments to provide all these functions. But what we do is to provide technical and material support for PHCs in the state,” he said.
Ipaye promised to call the chairman and the medical officer of health in the LCDA. “Tomorrow I will investigate the issue. I will call the medical officer of health and the council boss. I will ask for the details and why they have not solicited for our support,” he said.
He said that the state had acquired some equipment that were being distributed to PHCs in the state.
The Deputy National Chairman (South) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Segun Oni, has urged Nigerian leaders in public and private service to give back to their communities in a bid to ensure the progress and development our their society.
Oni, a former governor of Ekiti State, spoke at the weekend in Lagos at the induction of new executives of Ifaki UNIQ Brothers’ Club.
The APC chieftain said the time had come for all progressive-minded and successful Nigerians – whether in politics or business – to take community service as one of the elements of good leadership.
He said: “You are never successful, regardless of your position and wealth in any society, until you are able to give back to the people. Giving back to the society that raised us is one of the parameters to measure whether a man is successful or not.”
Oni described Apatiroko, the club’s new president, as the right choice, judging by his pedigree of service and contributions to the progress of Ifaki Ekiti and other parts of Nigeria.
Outgoing President Lanre Esan thanked the members of the club and the outgoing executives for their cooperation and commitment to the objectives and programmes of the club during his stewardship.
Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade has directed Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWATSSA) to connect 500 rural communities with drinkable water yearly.
He gave the directive at the weekend in Calabar while inaugurating the ‘Motorised Drilling Rig and Geographical Survey Equipment’ to drill boreholes in communities.
Ayade said the rig would assist the agency drill boreholes in hard-to-reach areas.
According to him, the rig has the capacity to deliver affordable drinking water to the three senatorial districts.
The governor, who advised RUWATSSA on management of the equipment, urged it to carry out a geophysical survey plan before drilling.
“I want us to work and create a better Cross River for our people. I have given the agency a charge to use this rig and connect 500 communities with water yearly.
“In four years’ time, we will have no community that has to go to the stream to look for water. We must stop this.
“I want the director-general of RUWATSSA to treat this rig like a baby. I don’t want to hear that after two years the rig is no longer functioning.
“I want the director-general to take this rig to the communities that do not have water. With this rig; I know we will provide quality water that will make the people healthy.
“With potable water, we will stop children from going out early in the morning to the stream to look for water, thereby cutting their school time and reducing their capacity to absorb and store knowledge.
“We must take water to the doorsteps of our people. This is why we have procured these equipment for the benefit of mankind,’’ he said.
Mr. Ita Ikpeme, the director-general, said the agency had been without serviceable vehicles, drilling rig and geophysical equipment in the last 10 years.
Said he: “Today, RUWATSSA has been re-engineered and reinvented with the purchase of this new equipment that will help us in delivering drinkable water to the people.
“I thank the governor for this donation. He promised to buy the equipment for us and he has delivered.
“With this rig, RUWATSSA can provide potable water and sanitation service.
“The geophysical equipment can go as far as 6000 feet down and the drilling machine can drill up to 150 metres in three hours.’’
Heritage Energy Operational Service Limited (HEOSL) at the weekend called for synergy between host communities and stakeholders in OML 30 to prevent vandals from tampering with oil facilities.
The company made this appeal through its Media Relations and Internal Communications Coordinator, Mr. Chidi Orazulike.
It was reacting to reports on the spillage in Evwreni Well 8 and 9 of OML 30.
Orazulike said the spill might have been caused by vandals.
He said the company’s Health, Safety, Security, Environment and Quality (HSSEQ) Department was informed of the incident by field officers, who notified their partners and other relevant authorities, including Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
According to him, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) was also notified, and mobilised for a Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) to ascertain the volume of spill, extent of environmental impact and cost of remediation.
His words: “The evaluation team was denied access to the site by agitating community members, who gave conditions as means to access the site for spill containment and remediation. So the team was rendered inconclusive, but was later given access for repairs after serious deliberations.”
The people of Egbo quarters of Uwheru, Ughelli North, had cried to the company to intervene in an oil spill in one of its facilities at Evwreni Wells 8 and 9 of OML 30, since October 20.
A local leader, Odion Andrew Umukoro, said they woke up to discover oil gushing out from the well head. They contacted the company but got no response.
Umukoro said the spill might have been caused by failed equipment inherited from SPDC by Heritage.
Many coastal communities in Olero Creek, Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State, came alive at the weekend as the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) inaugurated seven sections of rigid pavement roads covering almost eight kilometres.
The roads are Tebu-Gbokoda Road, Tebu-Gbokoda-Udo Road and the Udo-Ajamita Road, all in Olero Creek community. The NDDC also inaugurated the 3.1-kilometre Irete Road in Sapele and Uloho Avenue Road with drainage in Ughelli.
The ceremonies were performed by an NDDC team, which included the Managing Director, Mr. Nsima Ekere; Executive Director Projects Samuel Adjogbe; government’s representative on the NDDC Board Ogaga Ifowodo, and others.
Ekere, who noted that developing communities that could not be accessed by road posed enormous challenges, especially with funding and logistics.
He said: “I share in your joy; when you spoke, I felt your positive emotions. Some of you have not seen vehicular traffic before today. Now, by the special grace of God, it is possible for cars to drive round your communities.
“We came from Koko, travelling almost one hour by water to get here. On our way, I enjoyed seeing the vegetation and mangrove, but I wondered what life would be like for the people without the necessary facilities and infrastructure.
“Bringing construction materials and equipment to site is a logistic nightmare; the terrain is so difficult that in some areas, the contractor had to excavate for as deep as four metres to remove unsuitable materials before refilling with sharp sand.
“A very serious engineering work has been done here because of the difficult terrain. That is why we feel sad when people don’t factor in the difficult challenges of terrain while talking about the cost of construction in the Niger Delta region.
“What we spend in building one kilometre of road in this type of community could be used to construct 10 kilometres of road in other parts of the country.”
Ekere praised the Federal Government and oil companies funding the commission, and urged them to continue to release funds to enable the agency live up to its mandate of fast-tracking development in Nigeria’s oil-rich region.
“We appeal to the oil companies to please release the outstanding funds owed NDDC,” Ekere added.
A representative of the Olero Creek Community, Mr. Eyde Michael, said they were excited with the project. “We have not seen much from the oil companies; that is why we remain very grateful to the NDDC,” he said.
At the opening of the Ireto Road in Sapele, Ifowodo stressed that the Commission was focusing on completing all ongoing projects. “That is why we are devoting 70 per cent of the NDDC budget to the execution of projects,” he said.
Ogaga urged the Kogoro and Ojolu communities to be patient and support the Federal Government and its development agencies to develop the Niger Delta.
The wife of Anambra State governor, Mrs. Ebelechukwu Obiano, has urged women to make positive impact in their communities.
Mrs Obiano spoke at the Skill Acquisition and Economic Empowerment programme organised by the Association of Anambra State Women in Lagos (ASWAL) at the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos.
The governor’s wife noted that women need to learn the skill of foresight because “foresight helps us to pull the future into the present and transition from a position of reactive disruption to a proactive transformation”.
Mrs Obiano, who was the chief guest of honour at the programme, with the theme: 21th Century Woman: The Critical Success Factors, said transformation is evident in the giant strides recorded by the Anambra State government.
She said these include the exportation of the state’s farm produce, rehabilitation works across the state, the elimination of traffic congestion and prompt payment of salaries.
Mrs Obiano said she had been putting smiles on the faces of indigent residents since 1991 through her non-governmental organisation (NGO), Caring Family Enhancement Initiative (CAFÉ).
She said: “The state has become a reference point in Nigeria with the unequalled achievements of Governor Willie Obiano.”
ASWAL’s President Nkiru Ifekwem said the association promotes unity under friendly co-existence between Anambra indigenes in Lagos on the one hand and other Nigerians on the other.
Mrs Ifekwem recalled that in its over 25 years of existence, the association had embarked on several people-oriented programmes that sensitised and uplifted Anambra women in Lagos and Anambra State. She said: “These programmes are in the forms of workshops, skills seminars and acquisition, trainings, health and political sensitisations, among others.”
The flag bearer of the Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA), Mr. Godwin Ezeemo, has decried the state of the roads in Awka North Local Government, saying that he will spend the first six months in office constructing a network of roads to connect all the communities in the area, if elected as the governor come November 18.
Ezeemo made the declaration at Achalla recently, while addressing the stakeholders in the area, including the revered traditional ruler of the area, Igwe Alex Nwokedi, as part of his campaign tour.
The PPA candidate promised that the roads would be constructed to world standard.
During the tour, his motorcade struggled through the near impassable terrain of Awka North and had to pass through several other local governments to connect from one community to another.
He lamented that it was an act of wickedness by the past and present governments to deny the people good roads, the most basic infrastructure, even when the resources to provide them were available.
Ezeemo asked rhetorically: “How can an ex-governor tell us that that he left 40 billion naira in cash while leaving office, when we have such pressing needs like linking up sister communities in Awka North with good roads, which will facilitate socio-economic development of the area and ultimately the state?
“How can the present government be proud to spend billions of naira on high quality billboards, endorsements and posters, campaigning for second term, when the same money was enough to build the long-neglected link roads in Awka North, a more effective way of winning the heart of the people to vote for him for second term?”
In his response, Igwe Nwokedi, who was the Chief Press Secretary to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1978, acknowledged Ezeemo’s candid observation, saying that he spent his days during the Nigerian civil war in Aguata, Ezeemo’s local government, and that Aguata people left a good impression on him.
He said: “Umuchu people are good people; very decent, humane, genuine people who are highly controlled by their nature, and I believe that Ezeemo will behave like his people.”
The Erin-Ile community in Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara State has said it will live in peace with neighbouring towns, especially, Offa.
About two weeks ago, there was crisis between Offa and Erin-Ile, following alleged demolition of two buildings belonging to Offa indigenes.
Spokesperson of Erin-Ile Progressive Union (EPU) Mr. James Awowole noted that development can only be attracted in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility.
According to him, both communities have a tradition of cordial relationship, inter-marriage and cultural celebration.
Awowole maintained that the crisis between them was a fabrication, as there is no reason for any attack.
His words: “We are law-abiding citizens, incapable of taking any action or make statements that can foment trouble to either of the communities. We are happy with existing peace and harmony among us, and we are determined to sustain it.”
The House of Assembly has hailed the government, stakeholders and traditional rulers of Offa and Erin-Ile communities, for the amicable resolution of the Erin-Ile/Offa crisis.
This followed a motion, “Preventing boundary dispute between Offa and Erin Ile communities”, sponsored by Adamu Usman (Okuta/Yashikiri).
Speaker Ali Ahmad said harmony was synonymous with the wealth of the state. He urged other communities to emulate Erin-Ile and Offa by living in peace, to allow for accelerated socio-economic transformation of the state.
