Five thousand, seven hundred and seventy-six (5,776) internally displaced people (IDPs) from 897 households, from Borno, Yobe and Adamawa state occupied 2,000 units of houses at Abundance Resettlement in Wassa district, Apo Area, Abuja. After fleeing the decade-long insurgency ravaging Nigeria’s North-East.

I was received into the community along with my team at about 9 am by Geoffrey Bitrus, a 42-year old farmer who has been displaced since 2014.

Bitrus, originally from Gwoza Local Government of Borno State, gave insight on health challenges women and children are facing in the community.

Residents of Abundance Resettlement rely solely on patent medicine stores popularly known as chemist stores for their healthcare. Ruth Paul, a 25-year-old fashion designer said she lost her daughter in April 2021 because she did not immediately have access to quality healthcare. 

“She stopped eating and I took her to the chemist, but it only got worse and I was referred to a hospital in Apo and later to another one in the city where she finally died,” an emotional Paul said.

Geoffrey narrated how a  young girl in the community died recently because of the same problem. Ruth, the mother of the girl, is married.

She speaks only Hausa and her husband is a commercial motorcycle rider popularly known as “okada” in farway lagos. She has been living alone on her own with their newly born 2-year old girl.

“On this day just like every other day, I came back from the farm, since the only source of energy for cooking here in the camp is firewood, I do go to the farm in the morning to get firewood.

“On that evening after we returned, I gave her food and she refused to eat. I observed her body is hot and I bathed her with cold water. The high temperature persisted and it only got worse as she became very weak. The next day I took her to the chemist on the opposite side of the road where I purchased some drugs she prescribed. I forced food down her throat since she refused but she will need to swallow the drugs prescribed for her. Few hours later around 2pm in the afternoon, she vomited and she was extremely weak at this point.

“I rushed her to the chemist who later told me to take her to one hospital along Apo road. Getting to the hospital she was admitted and examined. But instead of her health  to improve the case was just the opposite. Later the hospital discharged us and referred us to another big hospital in Abuja Central District.

“When we got there, they asked us to make an initial deposit which I could not afford before treatment could commence. We were just in the hospital unattended to. Few hours after getting to the hospital she became unconscious and the doctor and nurses could not bring her back. Few minutes later they told me my daughter was dead.”

Ruth is a very industrious young lady, she is a fashion designer, a skill she acquired before her village was invaded by Boko Haram terrorists five years ago.

She has been supporting herself and her young child before her demise with the proceeds from sewing for the community.

The same fate as Ruth awaits the rest of the women in the community. Here is another woman who is pregnant and will be delivering her child at home with support from women in the camp.

There is no telling whether she will have a safe delivery and her newborn in good hands in the absence of reliable healthcare facility.

The absence of an accessible healthcare facility exposes the people of Abundance Resettlement to great health challenge.

There is no better time than now to be their voice by telling their stories, bridging the gap between them and government intervention.

In 2021, the Nigerian refugee crisis will be going into its seventh year. Since violent attacks of the Islamist group Boko Haram started to spill over Nigeria’s north-eastern frontier in 2014, Cameroon, Chad and Niger have been drawn into what has become a devastating regional conflict.

To date, the North-Eastern part of Nigeria accounts for over 2.9 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa and the third largest globally. If IDPs were a Nigerian State, they would be the 20th most populous state in Nigeria ahead of Kogi, Zamfara, Enugu, Kebbi States and Abuja’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

This crisis has been exacerbated by conflict-induced food insecurity and severe malnutrition, which have risen to critical levels in Nigeria.

The challenges of protecting the displaced are compounded by the deteriorating security situation as well as socio-economic fragility, with communities in the conflict zones facing chronic poverty, a harsh climatic conditions, recurrent epidemics, poor infrastructure and limited access to basic health services.

In 1985, Professor Olukoye Ransome-Kuti was appointed the Minister of  Health and adopted Primary Health Care (PHC) in 52 local government areas as model based on the Alma Ata Declaration of 1978.

In 1992, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency was established to ensure that the PHC agenda is Continued and sustained. Today, Nigeria has 28,276 public PHCs across 774 LGAs and FCT.

However, only 20% of these PHC facilities are functional. Studies have shown that health systems based on strong PHC improve the management of NCDs, reduce mortality from NCDs, reduce infant and under five mortality, reduce maternal mortality and increase life expectancy at birth.

However, forty three years after the declaration, Nigeria remains the second largest contributor to the maternal and child mortality globally, losing estimated 2,300 children and 145 women everyday.

Recall, On Thursday, December 30, President Muhammadu Buhari, signed the N17.16 trillion appropriation bill for 2022 into law. A sectoral breakdown of the budget indicated that N821.4 billion (5 percent) was allocated for healthcare across the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory.  

This fractional proportion shows this administration has once again failed to meet its Abuja Declaration commitment which requires the nation to ensure that 15 percent of its annual budgetary allocation goes to the health sector.

To appropriate a paltry 5 percent of the budget to the entire country’s health sector to carter for over 200 million people at a time the nation is facing numerous health challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, cholera, malaria and other infections is a sad commentary not just on the state of the health sector, but also on how the Federal Government view the needs of the sector.

Using a per capita breakdown, it shows that only N3,987.38 was allocated to each citizen based on the current estimated population of about 206 million.

This amount sadly is not enough to cover the cost of common ailments like malaria or typhoid. It must equally be emphasised that allocating such a meager amount to the sector explains the premium placed on human lives by this administration.

“The Federal Capital Territory will spend N64,861,604,695.00 for its 2022 National Priority Projects says FCT minister Mohammed Bello with no clear amount earmarked for the health sector. Some of these priority projects include the installation of solar street lights along various roads in the satellite towns; provision of roads, water and electricity supplies to the resettlement site of Galuwyi Shere (Phase II),” stated Mr Bello. “Rehabilitation and upgrading of street lighting facilities within the FCC; Design/ construction of a dam, treatment plant, tanks and other bulk water supply infrastructure to Karshi; Abuja Light Rail Transit Phase II Addendum 1-2 (2) and the rehabilitation of federal government buildings, amongst others”.

The Greater Abuja Water supply project, he said, was a bilateral initiative to enhance water supply in the FCT, and its implementation would extend the supply of potable water to 33 districts covering Gwarimpa, one and two Utako, Dutse, Gudu Kaura, Wuye, Mabushi, Jahi, Kado, Karmo, Lokogoma, Kabusa, Dape, amongst others.

*This story was supported by the Africa Data Hub Community Journalism Fellowship.

The Africa Data Hub is a reputable and up-to-date source for COVID-19 related data on the African continent.

It supports and promotes quality access to information, data-driven journalism to facilitate evidence-based decision-making across the continent.

The ADH Community Journalism Fellowship (ACJF) is an initiative of Orodata Science whose mission is to continue to enable equitable access to information and knowledge towards solutions that impact the lives of millions.

The recipients were selected from over 100 journalists who applied for the fellowship program.

The objective of the fellowship is to improve the coverage of under-reported issues in local communities across Nigeria, focusing on potential solutions with lasting impact on effective public service delivery, grassroot development and improving the quality of life.

The fellowship program will support community journalists with grants, capacity development and tools to produce in-depth data-driven stories on issues affecting communities in different parts of the country. It will prioritize stories deep-diving into community health challenges, causes of hunger and extreme poverty, and more importantly stories showing structural barriers women and girls face.

Meet the ADH Community Journalism Fellows:

1. Adesola Ikulaloju

Adesola Ikulaloju is a multimedia investigative journalist. He is a trainee of the Africa Check and US Consulate on combating Misinformation.

His works have appeared in The Nation Newspaper, Nigerian Tribune, Guardian Newspaper, and digital news outlets including Premium Times, BBC (Yoruba and Pidgin), Edutorial. He is currently a multimedia journalist in Nigeria.

2. Ngozi Egenuka

Ngozi Egenuka is a Freelance Reporter with The Guardian Newspaper. She has over four years experience in journalism. Ngozi is a graduate of Mass Communications from Imo State University.

She has also participated in professional trainings such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) training by the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) and Media Awareness and Information For All Network (MAIN); Training on Anti-torture act by Avocats Sans Frontières France (ASF); trainings on reporting issues of disability organised by Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) and many others.

3. Sodiq Ojuroungbe

Sodiq Ojuroungbe is a journalist with over six years’ experience. He had deep knowledge in data journalism, feature writing, investigating reporting, fact-checking and general reporting. He is the News Editor of the Platform Times, the leading online news platform in Ogun State. Sodiq is a finalist of many international awards and has won best investigative journalist in Ogun state in 2020 and 2021.

4. Tunde Omolehin

Tunde Omolehin is an investigative Journalist covering the northwest states of Nigeria. His works focus on conflicts and humanitarian, digital rights, social inclusion, open contract and environmental crime reporting. He was a fellow of 2012 Africa-China Reporting Project at Wits University, South Africa, and is currently a fellow of the Africa Academy for Open Source Investigation (AAOSI).

5. Bukola Afeni

Bukola Afeni is an award-winning freelance journalist based in Nigeria. She holds a Master of Arts in Development Communications from Nasarawa State University Keffi, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism from the International Institute of Journalism Abuja. She is a Development Journalist with vast experience in print, online and broadcast Journalism.

6. Ann Godwin

Ann Godwin is a journalist with The Guardian Newspaper in Rivers State, she covers environment, trafficking, politics and general beats. She is a media trainer, mentoring young media professionals on Journalism practice. She is currently a Masters Degree Student at Rivers State University. She is an alumnus of the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Ann loves teaching, learning new things, listening to people and solving problems.

7. Israel Olatunji

Israel Olatunji Tijani is a multimedia journalist and data analyst with 5 years of experience across mainstream print, radio, and digital outlets in Nigeria. His journalism career spans social, gender equality, health, tech, and environmental issues, focusing on Nigeria’s marginalized communities. His work has been published by major Nigerian newspapers including The Nation and Sahara Reporters. He is a 2022 fellow of the Nigeria Health Watch Solutions Journalism Africa Fellowship.

8. Victoria Effiong

Victoria Effiong is a dynamic and proactive communication professional, creative thinker, Radio personality and budding investigative journalist with over five years’ experience working in a fast-paced broadcast industry. Victoria holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communication from Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH). She is also an SDG 4, 5 and 6 champion and enjoys volunteering in those areas.

The goal is to drive an incisive conversation and share learnings on the wins, missteps, and impact of the Covid19 pandemic on the continent.

The Africa Data Hub (ADH) seeks to support and promote quality access to information, and data-driven journalism to facilitate evidence-based decision-making about the pandemic across the continent.

The March Edition of the ADH Twitter Space, “Two Years of Covid19 in Africa: Charting the Way Forward” was facilitated by Mojeed Alabi, Editor of Development Desk, Premium Times and Busayo Morakinyo, International Lead, Follow The Money. 

Over the past two years, COVID-19 has infected 484,453,632 people while simultaneously causing the death of 6,154,204 people. Africa’s economy is still struggling to recover from the suffocating impacts of Covid-19, despite the huge amount of money spent on aid to cushion the effects of the pandemic.

The speakers highlighted some of the missteps of the government regarding the covid19 outbreak and also approaches the government should have taken towards managing the covid19 pandemic. “Nobody is safe until we fix our healthcare system in Nigeria, it is unfortunate because nothing significant has changed in terms of measures we have taken to curb the spread of the virus”, said Alabi.

They also shared their views on the ways covid19 funds were utilized in Nigeria and if the funds and donations were effectively disbursed and managed. “There are still people who think Covid19 was a hoax, it was just a ploy to make money and to shut them out of business”, said Morakinyo

There are still huge disparities in vaccine access globally. Reports also show that roughly 7.8% of the population in Nigeria has received the vaccine. “One of the factors that have affected the readiness and willingness of people to receive the vaccine is the level of awareness and engagement created by the primary health care center with the citizens”, said Olufemi. 

“A major challenge facing Nigeria is that we weak have audit laws, meanwhile other West African countries have their accounts audited effectively. But in Nigeria, our accounts are poorly audited so it is hard to hold anybody accountable”, said Morakinyo.

The April Edition of the ADH Twitter Space was no doubt another insightful discourse, “Inside Nigeria’s Lassa Fever Outbreak: Is there an end in insight” and the conversation was facilitated by Chibuke Alagbaso, Health journalist, Nigeria Health Watch and Dr Laz Ude Eze, Founder of TalkHealth9ja.

Lassa fever, also known as Lassa hemorrhagic fever (LHF), is a type of viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus. Many of those infected by the virus do not develop symptoms.

When symptoms occur they typically include fever, weakness, headaches, vomiting, and muscle pains. Health experts in Nigeria have called on the Federal Government and the Ministry of Health to pay more attention to the treatment and sensitization of people on Lassa Fever and its transmission within the country.

The speakers stressed that the disease is highly infectious and easily transmittable, and the government must intensify strategic efforts, just like its response to COVID-19, to reduce the number of infections in the state.

While Alagbaso said several advocacy programs have been put in place by independent organizations to create more awareness, Eze said, “There have been improvements with surveillance, diagnosis and tracking but one of the challenges of Lassa fever in Nigeria is the lack of a good leadership structure.”

When asked what the public could do to reduce the spread, Eze emphasized on the public behavior towards the contamination and spread of the virus.

“First is to understand what the disease is all about. It has similar symptoms to other life-threatening diseases that we know. We need to imbibe in our health behaviour to know what is wrong and the next line of action. If it is Lassa fever and you are treating something else, it might become worse because not every medical laboratory can diagnose Lassa fever. We need to get used to general hygiene”, he said. 

For Alagbaso, “It is about taking responsibility. You can do your part to be safe and the next person’s carelessness will get you infected. Everyone needs to be more active in health care, joining in the advocacy push to demand more investment in preventing an epidemic.”

Don’t miss the May edition of the ADH Twitter Space, you can set your reminder and join here.