Since the inception of civil rule in Nigeria in 1999 there have been several interventions initiated at the instance of wives of important political office holders such as the Wife of the President; Wives of Governors at the state level and wives of key national legislators.
These interventions have received diverse attention from a broad spectrum of observers and the general perception among these critical observers is that a clear majority of these initiatives were and are introduced by these women for purely selfish aggrandizement; self promotion and ego-tripping. This is because most of these projects are o cosmetic that they do not make significant impact in the lives of the poor populace that keep increasingly by the day due to political corruption and economic crimes by the political elite. Most of these initiatives were not designed with the people in mind therefore not relevant to the needs of the people.
Surely not all of these interventions in the different areas of human endeavours introduced by wives of serving influential political office holders at the different levels of government in Nigeria are introduced for these kinds of selfish purposes but these analysts are altogether not completely wrong when they asserted that majority of these interventions especially by the wives of state governors are not well thought out even as most of these initiatives die and fade away as quickly as the husbands of these women who created them in the first instance quit their political positions.
There have therefore been clamour from a cross segment of the society for the wives of state governors to take their time to assemble community of experts to think through any interventions and initiatives that they intend to start so that these programs and policies can stand the test of time and serve the objective for which they are established and especially to serve the utilitarian purpose which is to promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number of their citizens and especially the very indigent and poverty- stricken segment of their populace in their respective states.
This is because it is a sacred fact that poverty walks with four legs in much of the 36 states of the federation and Abuja.
As I write this piece I am spending my Christmas in Ndiuche -Arondizuogu in the Aro-Umuduru Autonomous community in Onuimo local government council of Imo state and I can report that there is no single functional primary healthcare center here to service the large rural populace who are mostly peasant farmers; big time farmers and traders and yet these people are law abiding that they pay their taxes as at when due. The question therefore is why there are total absent of basic amenities like rural roads; clean water/sanitation and electricity power in this part of Imo State and yet we read daily in the press that a revolutionary rescue mission is happening in Imo state? Governor Rochas Okorocha must stop this media showmanship and begin a process of deliberate rural development anchored on the provision of basic infrastructure to make life bearable. The wife of Imo state governor should borrow a leaf from her Ebonyi state counterpart and start up a project that would impact on the large rural poor women especially in the area of providing succour to their health challenges and empowering them economically through credit schemes to expand their agricultural activities to feed Imo state people. I am aware that she recently donated a block of flats to some few widows in a part of Imo state but this is not enough even though it is a commendable step.
In Nigeria, rural and urban poverty have become very disturbing and every interventions to reduce and/or eradicate these poverty in line with the millennium development goals ought to be encouraged by all and sundry and these respective interventions must importantly be well institutionalized and backed up with all the necessary legal frameworks to sustain their existence and consistent service deliverance to the poorest of the poor in our communities scattered across the states of the federation.
But a clear departure from the routine projects and programs introduced by wives of state governors in Nigeria is the medical apostolate started in 2007 by the wife of the Ebonyi state governor Mrs. Josephine N. Elechi which is known as the Mother and Child Initiative [MCCI]. Studies and pragmatic research conducted by this writer on the invitation of one of my very supportive human rights activists- Mr. Ivoke Philip Ivoke, shows clearly that the Ebonyi state Mother and Child Initiative [MCCI] introduced in 2007 is very unique in the sense that it was set out to address a very complex and complicated health challenge confronting a great number of young but poor rural and urban women in Nigeria known as OBSTETRIC FISTULA.
Specifically, obstetric fistula is clearly a major public health challenge in Nigeria and studies shows that the health problem is largely noticeable in the Northern parts of Nigeria but other poor young women and mothers in other parts of the country are affected. I was told by some medical professionals that early marriage of little girls to older men is the fundamental cause of this health problem which at a time was of grave proportion in severity. The prevalence estimates range between 400,000 and 800,000 including an estimated 20,000 new cases every year, according to scientific paper obtained from the office of the Ebonyi state Mother and Child Initiative [MCCI].
An interesting dimension in all this wonderful story is that the wie of the Ebonyi state governor is not alone in introducing this unique kind of medical related interventions aimed at providing affordable and/or free healthcare services to the poorest of the poor because in Cross River State the wife of the governor Mrs. Liyel Imoke also has an initiative aimed at tackling the increasingly health challenge posed by PNEUMONIA. The Cross River state Governor’s wife has also established orphanages and homes whereby young vulnerable females put in family way by morally depraved men in the larger society and abandoned are taken care of till delivery. Mrs. Imoke is reported to have taken away hundreds of thousands of street children off the streets. Mrs. Imoke and Mrs. Elechi of Cross River and Ebonyi states are therefore great testaments that good things still abound within the precinct of political administration in Nigeria. This is a symbol of hope that must be supported and sustained to make remarkable positive impacts in the lives of millions of disadvantaged and very critically poor Nigerians.
Few weeks back when Mr. Ivoke Philip Ivoke drew my attention to the activities of the Ebonyi state Women and Children Initiative of Mrs. Josephine Elechi, a professional Nurse by training, I was fascinated to discover that her initiative which started only in 2007 has gone a long way to achieving so much to address this huge health challenge posed to a lot of rural women by the OBSTETRIC FISTULA particularly because of the graphic reality that with only 2,000 to 4,000 fistula repair surgeries being carried out yearly, there is a large backlog of patients waiting for surgeries.
It is estimated that our country accounts for 40 percent of the World wide prevalence of OBSTETRIC FISTULA. From the look of things, this is a big health issue in the same dimension with the wild polio which has brought international opprobrium to Nigeria. The effort by the Ebonyi state governor’s wife to bring the problem of obstetric fistula to the front burner of public discourse is therefore noble and must be supported by all and sundry even as the Presidency through the office of the Senior Special Assistant on the Millennium Development Goals must take special attention to the activities of the EBONYI STATE MOTHER AND CHILD INITIATIVE and provide the project with the necessary funding support to continue to address this big health issue and also because ending and/or halving the effects of mother and child mortalities and morbidities are among the eight Millennium Development Goals which the United Nations member nations including Nigeria has set for themselves to achieve by the year 2015.
The vision of the Ebonyi state mother and child initiative as discovered from our investigation based on facts and figures made available by competent sources is to facilitate the creation of an optimized environment that will allow for the attainment, fulfillment and self actualization of the Ebonyi women and children.
The objectives of the initiatives which are being carefully implemented by a formidable team of resource persons appointed to coordinate the program by the wife of the Ebonyi state governor are to empower the Ebonyi women; to reduce maternal mortality; to promote an environment that will allow for the eradication of maternal morbidities like VESICO-VAGINAL FISTULA; to facilitate the establishment of functional primary/comprehensive health facilities in the state and promote effective referral systems; facilitate the establishment of cancer screening centers in Ebonyi state; to educate the public on unhealthy lifestyles and how to avoid them; to facilitate the development and empowerment of Ebonyi youth and to promote mother and child survival.
Some of the verifiable achievements made since 2007 that the Ebonyi state Mother and Child initiative started include the fact that the number of deliveries in all types of health facilities in the state has doubled in 2009 compared to 2006 before the inception of this noble project. As a result of this landmark health achievement made possible by aggressive community mobilzation and provision of free maternal care in mission hospitals thousands of poor women and children have received health reliefs. Secondly, the number of antenatal care attendance has tripled in the same period even as 524 women of Ebonyi state origin and 13 other states of the federation in Nigeria have had their fistula repaired at the SOUTH EAST FISTULA CENTER. The strategies adopted and the intervention implemented by the Mother and Child Initiative of the Ebonyi state governor’s wife has been comprehensive and integrated in such a way that a synergy has been created with relevant government interventions at state and local government levels. This is important so that pet projects commenced to compliment government core mandate does not encroach or take over the fundamental functions of institutions established for public good funded with tax payers money. Again I support the clamor for these pet projects to be backed up by firm legal frameworks to make them people oriented and to be able to outlive their founders. There is need for continuity of these projects and humanitarian services to poor populace by wives of state governors.
During the course of doing this research for this piece, Mr. Ivoke Philip Ivoke provided documentary evidence to show that the Ebonyi State women and children initiative has successfully developed and implemented strategies and interventions in several areas including advocacy and community mobilisation activities leading to effective prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of patients in need of assistance. Such are they proves of initiatives that should be supported to gain firm root in our society whereby the majority of our people are poor, disadvantaged and uneducated.
By this remarkable institution established by the wife of the Ebonyi state Governor, it is evident that not all the so-called pet projects of wives of political office holders are cosmetic; selfish and untenable. This is to call on all the wives of state governors to borrow a leaf from the wife of the Ebonyi state governor who has used her professional calling as a professionally trained and experienced Nurse and Midwife to start a revolutionary medical apostolate that is aimed at providing succor to women who are suffering from this serious health complications that cost a lot of money to treat. The most salient aspect is the issue of advocacy campaign waged by this non-governmental organization to educate the Ebonyi state women and women in other states of the ways of preventing this health problem so as to give them healthy life for themselves and their children. The office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on Millennium Development Goals should look into ways and manners that it could partner with this credible initiative of the wife of the Ebonyi state governor to stop the spread of this serious health problem among the rural women and their urban poor counterparts.
