The allocation of plots of land meant for health projects by the Federal Capital Development Authorities is threatening the realisation of the health-for-all by 2015

 

By Sunny Idachaba

 

When in the year 2000, Nigeria and a number of other countries of the world met in New York under the auspices of the UN Millennium Development Goals, they agreed on practical steps towards the eradication of poverty and diseases ravaging the world. It was generally believed that all hands would be on deck to ensure its success. However, while in other countries, many of the eight goals of MDGs are being achieved, in Nigeria the reverse is the case as some people desperate for materialistic gains are frustrating the scheme, thereby making the eradication of child mortality and maternal mortality a dream that cannot be realized.

 

Lands designated for the construction of primary health centres in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT have been acquired for other purposes with children and pregnant women paying the ultimate price for this mindlessness. This was why Dr Aliyu Modibbo, the Minister of the FCT inaugurated an eight-man committee to look into the cases of land contraventions in line with the gains of the MDGs in the territory. According to the minister, in spite of concerted efforts of the government to improve healthcare facilities in the territory, desperate Nigerians who want to acquire landed property are frustrating the plan and the government would not watch helplessly.

 

An investigation by Newsworld shows that a number of plots initially meant for the construction of primary health centres by the last administrations in the territory have been taken over either erroneously or intentionally. Such plots are said to be located in the various districts of the city where maternal and infant mortality is highest. 

 

At the Abuja Geographic Information Systems, AGIS, office where land matters are processed, a senior staff of the agency who is also a member of the committee but preferred to be anonymous told this magazine that even though the committee has not openly identified anyone, some staff of the FCDA would be indicted while a number of senior officers in the government would also be indicted. A Director in the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory, Abubakar Sulaiman who is also a member of the committee however said that at the moment, it is a mere allegation which can only become valid after the work of the committee. According to him, the contravention dated back to years before the advent of democratic regime in Nigeria and many of those people had their valid papers signed by the previous ministers of the territory. The committee's terms of reference include the review of all previous and current land applications for health plots; the monitoring of the contravention and misuse of health plots and the mandate to ensure that all contravened health plots revert to its original land use.

 

On how this affects the progress of the Millennium Development Goals, Fati Akilu, the communications officer of the MDG office in Abuja told Newsworld  that the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the president on  MDG is experiencing a deliberate frustration caused by the same people the scheme were meant for. According to her, even though the resources at the disposal of the office may not achieve the eight goals, the intervention in the health sector is the number one priority of the office. She said with the recent onslaught in the polio scourge in the country, it is already obvious that the country cannot afford to sit on the fence.

 

It is observed that the reduction of child mortality remains a key challenge to Nigeria with wide disparities subsisting between the rural and urban centres and among geographical zones. This is because there is low maternal education, low coverage of immunization, weak primary healthcare system, high incidence of poverty, and inequality which accounts for the mortality rates in Nigeria and the FCT. According to a report by the MDG, 38% of rural dwellers especially women have limited knowledge of health which is the primary reason for the overhauling of primary healthcare centres across the country. A pediatrician with the National hospital, Abuja, Dr Oniga Bolurin told this magazine that improving the referral system between the primary and secondary health facilities is central to the attainment of health for all by the year 2015.  

Out of the 198 health plots identified in the phase one, two and three of the Abuja master plan, 63 plots have been identified by the committee as allocated for its purpose, while 10 have been allocated for other purposes not designated in the master plan. The committee is still working to recover the remaining plots from those who illegally acquired them for the full actualization of the MDG gains in the territory.