New Life for Eruku Community
In Kwara State, the Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation provide a new lease of life to residents of Eruku community. Martins Ifijeh writes
It was all cheers for the people of Eruku community, a small town in Kwara State, as they took ownership of a state-of-the-art maternity referral centre, the first of its kind in the state, jointly built and donated by Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited (EEPNL) an arm of Exxon Corporation and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in partnership with Development Africa, an international nongovernmental organisation.
From the morning of the commissioning, the atmosphere in the community suggested something big was happening all around. The people of Eruku could not contain their excitements; the drums were rolled out, various cultural groups sang and danced, the celebration ground became a busy market hub of some sort, the whole community came out to witness the epoch making event. Even the masquerades were out themselves to add flavour to the celebration.
The excitement wasn’t so much of a surprise as the community has been without a maternity centre to save the lives of pregnant women and their children from preventable deaths and undue hardship for many years.
True, the women have never had a place within the community to run to during childbirth, rather they travel long distances, and most times do not get the appropriate medical attention due to lack of necessary health facilities and expertise to be able to give birth safely and without complications.
Indeed, the absence of maternity centre in Eruku community and the neighbouring communities, contributed to the low mortality rate among women and infants in the country.
Estimated to cost over N160 million, the ready-to-use health centre is furnished with modern equipment with a guaranteed 24-hour independent power supply. The installation of a solar power system and a 24-hour water supply equally added to the beauty of the health centre. It also has a brand new ambulance vehicle for use in case of emergencies.
In his speech at the commissioning and handing over ceremonies, the Group Medical Director, EEPNL, Dr Mohammed Bello Aliyu, said the Maternity Referral Centre will support the community and indeed the state by drastically decreasing the infant and under-five mortality rate, reducing pregnancyrelated deaths, improving health outcomes of premature and low-birth-weight babies, decreasing the number of disabilities and increasing lifetime productivity.
He noted that the facility will go a long way in the care and treatment of pregnant women, babies and their mothers and enhance the living standards of the people of Eruku community, its neighboring towns as well as Kwara People in general.
According to him, “the amount spent in building this centre is insignificant compared to the lives the centre will save. Our people deserve no less…. Now that the centre has been handed over to the state government and the community, it is no longer the property of EEPNL and NNPC but that of the community. The community will do well to device means to protect the building, equipments and furnishing from being vandalized so that it can serve the community for many years to come.”
He stressed that the joy felt by the people at the commissioning is an extension of their deep thoughts during the building of the health centre. “Their cooperation was immense from day one. Some communities will not allow workers to work in their terrain. But the people of Eruku showed their support and today we are all happy to hand over the facility to them.”
The Esso Chief Medical Director, however commended the Kwara state government for partnering with Esso/NNPC to see to the success of the Centre by its decision to staff the Centre as well as keep it up and running.
He, also paid glowing tributes to the management of Development Africa, noting that the commissioning ceremony would have not been possible if they did not have the cognate support of the international organization, which also shares in the vision of EEPNL and NNPC. “Their passion and untiring efforts coupled with their expertise have brought about the reality that this MRC is today.
“I have no doubt that the community will take ownership of the centre and treat it as a precious jewel that it should be,” he added.
Aliyu noted that the health facility is only a referral centre which has been put in place to compliment the work of the state Ministry of Health and the Kwara State government.
He said the commissioning will include a week-long comprehensive free medical services which runs into millions of naira and would be carried out by the medical team of Development Africa at the expense of EEPNL and NNPC.
“The free services shall include consultation and health nutrition education, dental procedures, surgical procedures and operations, ophthalmic procedures, eye procedures, optometric consultations, dispensing of free eye glasses and training for medical personnel.”
The NNPC representative at the occasion Dr. Kenny Obateru described the project as a manifestation of the commitment of NNPC and its partners (EEPNL and Development Africa) to contribute to the provision of quality healthcare delivery, capacity building and world-class Referral Centre in the health sector in Nigeria and Kwara state in particular.
Obateru, an indigene of Eruku, who was among those who influenced the citing of the centre in Eruku community, thanked the government and the beneficiary community for their immense support during the course of establishing the centre and pleaded with them to imbibe a good maintenance culture and to keep the facility in good condition so that it would continue to serve them for a long time.
While unveiling the facility, the Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed commended EEPNL, NNPC, Development Africa and all the partners in the health sector for working with the state to build a beneficial health system for the people.
“Our modest achievements in accessible health care delivery as well as infant and maternal health have been attained with your support and partnership. Indeed, we are grateful”, Ahmed stated.
He reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to partnering with governmental and non-governmental organisations in promoting infant and maternal healthcare in the State.
Ahmed described the intervention as “intervention that gives birth to hope and midwife succor, especially in rural and district communities." The governor said the significance of the referral centre lie in the fact that “child and maternal health was a major index of any efficient system because pregnant women and infants are some of the most vulnerable in our society, especially in rural communities”.