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My Binocular: Zulum, Ahidjo and the quest to bring health care to the people of Borno and North East Nigeria. 

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My Binocular: Zulum, Ahidjo and the quest to bring health care to the people of Borno and North East Nigeria. 

By: Bodunrin Kayode

I decided to bring this historic event as one of my end of year views into my binocular because of the tremendous love I have for the health sector. Apart from that I have watched both left handed Professors who are health lovers in this narrative do their best from the extreme corner of north east Nigeria. Both Professors Babagana Zulum and Ahmed Ahidjo  have a common craze in their services to humanity. And that is their craze for infrastructural development regardless of the sector. Having watched the deteriorating health sector in Nigeria since 1999 when democratic governments took charge, never have I seen such synergy between the federal and state governments in a bid to restore the health sector as I have seen in Borno. Zulum has expectedly taken ownership of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) as a mark of his magnanimous social responsibility to his people as the chair of the north East Governors forum. His recent visit to the UMTH cannot pass without going into the annals of my series on the review of 2022 which will soon come to an end. 

Alternative solar power at the UMTH

The University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital UMTH has survived many challenges. One of the biggest challenges it has gone through is the very insurgency which has enveloped its catchment area which is north east Nigeria since 2009. That is why it has not escaped the eagle eyes of both Governor Kashim Shettima and his political disciple Professor Babagana Zulum. The donation of N100m by Professor Zulum to the institution recently was a big boaster which has turned out to be a saving grace for the mainly diesel support lighting system to the growing institution. Sadly alternative lighting of the hospital is a big burden to the Chief Medical Director which is why he directed that the grant from the government will go immediately to cushion the lightening system through solar. The massive lightening of the hospital will be a great relief to many patient who used to sleep in darkness with or without the knowledge of management especially when diesel is finished. For a facility which spends more than 50 percent of its internally generated revenue (IGR) on diesel re-lightening the facility through an alternative solar source is a giant leap in the service to the north east of the country. The UMTH has actually been swallowing more than it can chew because of the heavy burden and expectations placed on it by the entire North East Nigeria. 

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Instead of concentration on only tertiary cases, primary and secondary issues have all been rushed into the facility and the consultants cannot say no to what is going on. They are always ready to respond to minor cases that is brought to their knowledge. Even if it’s just ordinary post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which can be handled by the secondary level in the state. 

The Challenge of accommodation 

From very reliable sources, one of the greatest problems of the UMTH has been the issue of accommodation which has not been tackled head long for the last 40 years. It’s been so biting in the hospital that it has affected both General practicing Medical Officers, residents and consultants. It’s been a major challenge because most of the medical practitioners feel unsafe living outside the facility which is heavily protected from all fronts and gates. Newly recruited resident doctors are the most hit because they must be near the facility to run calls. That is why the building of a new set of flats by Governor Zulum is coming at a time when it is quite  needed in the hospital. The CMD Professor Ahidjo was extremely happy when the Governor came to turn the sod for the building of those flats located in the heart of the residential areas within the UMTH. 

Hear his remarks during the visit of Governor Zulum to UMTH

” I would not hide my feelings as I was working with His Excellency, tears were running down my face I had to turn round to clean my tears. It is not because of the donation, but that compassion that goes with it. It is not every leader that you have, that would come and visit you and see what you have, after the challenges that you faced and share with you, not everybody can do that.

Gov. Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno state

“Your Excellency, we cherish your compassion, and that is the most important thing. We all know the Federal Government has stopped building housing for its own staffs especially in facilities like this. And in our own environment we are all living in insurgency prone areas. Housing may be a single factor that may make a professional leave this institution. So one cannot overemphasize the importance of housing to our own staff. Many that want to come to this hospital with skills, but are not people that when you advertise for employment that will apply. NO! We look for them, because they have special skills. And one of the first thing they would ask YOU is, do you have accommodation? Without accommodation they won’t come, because where they work, they are already accommodated. For them to leave where they are to come here with no accommodation I think that may be very difficult. Recently our resident doctors have been crying aloud because of lack of this accommodation equally. 

” So this came right at a time that we really needed it and I think your Excellency sir, we are really very grateful. However, this is not the very first time you started it. We all went to the auditorium with almost 1200 seating space in the main hall with the parallel section that will accommodate 1800 participants, which you donated freely to the hospital. We really cherish that particular action and we would never forget that. 

Zulum’s boaster against Covid 

“Again all of you can remember during the COVID time, things were hard, there was no single naira donated or given to this hospital to manage COVID 19 before intervention came from His Excellency of 20 million naira to this hospital, I vividly recall that his donation was the first that we got to manage COVID 19 patients and it came at a time when there was a lot of media challenges, here and there the money was given to the hospital to manage COVID 19 and nothing was done. As of that time not a single kobo was given to the Teaching Hospital to manage COVID 19 by the Federal Government. The Borno State Government was the first body to give University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital the sum of 20 million as support for managing COVID 19. We are really very grateful and we are very happy to be associated with you sir. 

Ensuring that nobody leaves the north east Nigeria for advance treatment anywhere. 

“Such leaders are really people that we all need to support, we are not talking about party, but there are individuals that have excelled. Showing exceptional virtues anywhere. They have sacrificed their lives not only to get anything but to service their own people. We salute you your Excellency for your exceptional expressions of your virtues that is beneficial to humanity. Not only that, whenever you are with him, before you start thinking of asking for this or that, he is the one that will ask you what are the challenges you are facing. Which means you are concerned with your own institution, that is why you are there to ask. But he is more concerned thinking about your own institution given you options before you even ask, that is only shown by few leaders. Some of the Governors have a clear cut demarcation between Federal and State Government institutions, but the case here is entirely different. 

“I am happy for us here at University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, myself and my team and the team of the board of management, has been exceptionally hard workin. Our Board Chairman is not from Borno State, he is not from the Northeast  but for any door I want to open, he is there by my side in support. We live in peace, for one to have an opportunity to operate it means there is baseline peace. It is not possible for us to do all these things without the support of the UMTH staff and Borno Community. In other climes, we see petitions flying to EFCC, ICPC all the time. But here, everybody is supporting and that makes the environment conducive for all of us. And Unions they are all here from the Nigerian Medical Association, the Medical and Dental Consultant Association, the Resident doctors, JOHASU, Nursing Association, Pharmacists Association all of them are here today represented in this room. I really commend you because on any issue we work as a family in this hospital, we never had challenges between us. We have gone round we have seen centers. We have dreams, we have so many good dreams, but the main thing in our dream is to ensure that no one would leave Northeast for treatment elsewhere that’s where we are heading to. We may not be there we may be slightly less than 50 percent of where we really want to go, but we are moving. Today we have gone round, at least we have gone round 60 percent of the new things that we have done. There are other 40 percent remaining. I believe some of you may also want go round again, you can be able to see what we were able to achieve. Once again your Excellency we thank you for this kind gesture and lastly you came with a donation of 100m. If I tell you the reality. The expenditure of the hospital is far more than the revenue generated. Sometimes for you to manage such facility, you have to think outside the box, you have to have business skills. The internal revenue generation of this hospital is clearly about 50 million but the expenditure is over 100 million. Only two items in our expenditure, diesel is 50 something million in a month and yet all of the revenue generation is about 50 million. So you find that managing such facility is very difficult. If you say you will add the cost of investigation and services, the society is poor. If you say, you would loose, you will not add, vendor supply is their own money. How do you pay them? So you will be left in the middle. So you need a lot of skills to navigate. But many do not understand, they feel like there were piles of money and you refused to put light, you refuse to put water, you refuse to put the food that’s how they assume, but it is not so. So your Excellency sir, we really appreciate and we thank you.”

Governor Zulum responds 

” The Government of Borno State under my leadership will continue to provide major support to this hospital with a view to delivering the mandate of providing portable quality healthcare delivery system to the entire people of Borno State, the Northeast Nigeria and Nigeria as a whole. 

Prof. Ahmed Ahidjo, CMD, UMTH

“We acknowledge the contribution of each and every one that is working in this facility. We have seen the magnitude of the problem that we had in Borno State as a result of the Boko haram insurgency. We have seen the impact of efficiency to this hospital within the last 12 years.  We are also glad to understand the nexus of peace that exist between the management of this hospital and principal officers. And above all the relationship between the management and the senior and junior staffs of this hospital which I clearly reiterated during my tour. I have nothing to say, than to pray to Almighty Allah for you to continue the good works that you are doing with us here.Thank you very much. 

“I want to deliver the Check of 100 million naira to this hospital. If you are writing the budget down it will be very difficult for someone outside this environment to understand it. Funding is very key. For those that have managed organizations including CMD and others that are here fully understand. For somebody who is outside the box, it would be very difficult to understand how strenuous it is to manage an institution, like you are spending your hard earned money. There are a lot of fights and what is to be in the account sometime may not be even up to 10 percent of the products  you want that are already on your desk. Therefore, we pray that God will give you wisdom, in the  running of this very important hospital like University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.”

Presentation of letter of commendation by Resident Doctors to Governor Zulum 

” Your Excellency sir, it is my wish to present this token to you sir it is a letter of recommendation the Association of Residence Doctors of UMTH are proud of you, we want to associate ourselves with you, we want to rebrand the world. The Association of Residence Doctors of UMTH lead by myself wish  to appreciate your magnificent gesture in laying the foundation for 24 housing unit sir. There is no doubt that this intervention will go a long way in cushioning the demands of our members seeking to reside within the hospital for easy proximity to their place of work. We cannot overemphasize the support you have being rendering to the health sector within the state. This has indeed attracted so many professionals to come down to Borno State. As you said while laying the foundation for the 24 housing unit, we pray we will soon gather for the official commissioning of this project. Sir, we pray to Almighty Allah to continue to guide you and protect you as you pilot this administration. 

“At this juncture I want to narrate a small story. Last October,  I was reading in our library when you came into our hospital around 12am to a patient in ICU. I saw you and I greeted, I was standing there when you returned from the ICU and you gave me N100,000. That money was used to pay for my certificate and that night I told myself this is a good sign and I have passed that exam. 

Board Chairman University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital speaks 

“I felt after receiving that N100m, it is absolutely necessary for me to give a vote of thanks, not only for the money and not only for the building of 24 houses that you are about to embark upon building but for your magnanimity in making time whenever we have a problem you are always giving us listening ears. Such leaders are very rear. When we give you a call, you take our call, you listen to us if it is something that you will intervene on our behalf you do that, because you know that the responsibility being given to us is also part of your responsibility. Whatever we do here we do it to serve the people of Borno State and by extension you are their number one citizen. We give you your mandate, you are always conscious of that. 

“I lack words to express the appreciation, the honor the respect and the reverence we have for you. We hold you in the highest esteem you can ever imagine. We do this because of the compassion that you have for us not only us but the entire people that you lead. As we were walking about today, we met people that were on duty, you called them by their names, you even told us stories of those that you had even driven commercial vehicles together with them in the past, people that you have being borrowing money from them while in the University. Sir, these are things that you can hardly find in a leader once they go up they have forgotten the past, they have forgotten their stories. But you are a different specie of human being entirely and I hope you live Insha Allah to tell more stories ahead of you. And we hope you have an opportunity one day to lead this nation. And there, as we are going round you gave us advices and we took all your advices.

“I just want to put into record that Prof. Ahidjo and his top management team and of course the governing board and all the union in the hospital and the staffs, that we believe even the most down trodden of all the people are important because you served the people, in a complete system. If one does not work the others will not be appropriate to function that is our approach to this thing. So when the board is one there will always be synergy on what we are doing. When we came here, we came to change things and Alhamdullillah we have been able to receive the support of the management to lead and to ensure that all these wonderful things you are doing are fine. 

“And the cardinal thing is we had a transformation plan that is in three phases. The first aspect is this infrastructure development that you are seeing your Excellency. The next phase is capacity building and human capital development which is being done simultaneously with infrastructural development and it is only when you have skill you can be able to attract all the necessary research grants that you need in order to undertake all the three cardinal principles. And Prof. Ahidjo and his team are doing wonderfully well towards achieving that goal.

Focus of this capacity building is ongoing here ,  just when we pursue that NGO you made a promise that you will partner with us, in order to work with us to see how we can attack and rescue the incidences of renal failures that we are testing, so I believe that partnership will bring about the needed research grant to us because you have to identify why renal failure in the first place. Before you can go into advocacy and start telling people what and what. So for me you have already opened the door for that research grant and we want to thank you. When the time comes we will come back with our caps in hand to ask for even more, Commissioner of health take note. And for all your Excellency I want to thank you most profoundly, most gratefully on behalf of the board of governance top level management senior Professors, staffs and management of this institution for your generosity, magnanimity, humility in fact all that I can mention that are positive thank you very much and we wish you all the best that this life can offer. “

Conclusion 

I have so many astounding events I recorded with my binocular but this is one very important one I will not forget as a health freak myself. A visit to the quarters for the doctors being built by Zulum shows that it will soon be commissioned for its service to humanity. Solar electricity is also an insignia of strength for the UMTH. 

My Binocular: Zulum, Ahidjo and the quest to bring health care to the people of Borno and North East Nigeria. 

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Osama, For Good Governance and Social Justice Through the Radio

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Osama, For Good Governance and Social Justice Through the Radio

By: Balami Lazarus

Osama. Does it ring a bell? Yes, it does on the Plateau. The Osama I am writing about is that individual who is known for his good works for humanity on the radio and outside the studio. Osama is a gentleman but is outspoken and has a mind of his own.

My Osama in this context is a personality, a brand, and a trademark. Osama is a broadcaster, radio presenter, and popular comedian on stage and in the entertainment industry in Jos-Plateau and beyond. Since the writing is sailing, I will later reveal the identity of who this young man is and why he is so passionate about good governance.

The fights for human rights, social justice, and good governance have been the cries and topic of discourse of so many Nigerians, especially good governance. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and human rights activists are the leaders in these struggles, whereby their roles cannot be overemphasized. The quantum of spoken words, public lectures/enlightenment programs, workshops, seminars, etc., has not brought many changes in our systems because there was little or no action by you and me as Nigerians.

I remembered when I was very active in the struggle for human rights and social justice. As Deputy Secretary General (DSG) of Democratic Alternative (DA), we were much concerned with democratic alternative processes and social justice with a whiff of good governance, and this has been the case for some NGOs, as I know.

I came to understand from my experiences that, as a country, we have good public-oriented programs, but our major challenges are implementation and follow-up that come with too many talks but no individual action or collective responsibility because many Nigerians are fearful, and this has made me a one-man advocate/crusader for human rights and social justice. Like the subject of this work.

Now back to the subject. Osama is a brand package, fearless advocate, and mouthpiece for good governance on the Plateau through Town Hall, a popular radio program aired by JFM 101.9 FM. Jos is widely listened to. He was born as Ehis Akugnonu. But Osama has overtaken his certified name. Therefore, my continued use of Osama is justified in this work because I realized that many times your other name (also known as) tends to dominate and overshadow your real name.

Osama is redefining the fight for good governance by personal efforts through follow-up and speaking on them, putting the government on their feet to improve and do better. ‘I am for good governance, and I will continue to speak on this matter.’ He is purposefully driven by his passion for good quality and better systems to have an enabling environment where the systems are working for progress and development.

Balami, a publisher/columnist 08036779290

Osama, For Good Governance and Social Justice Through the Radio

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In Marriage Nest, Spouses Are Dying Ignoring Red Flags and The Panacea (2)

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In Marriage Nest, Spouses Are Dying Ignoring Red Flags and The Panacea (2)

By: Balami Lazarus

I saw it coming. As a writer, my works and I have been verbally attacked several times. I raised an eyebrow at how some readers react by using bad language on issues, opinions, and views. Well, that is their way of expression when they are displeased, but I feel it is grotty.

And here is the conclusion of the “controversial piece,” as one caller puts it. For me, there is nothing controversial about this discourse but the truth of the grotesque happenings in married homes. And the way out, as I earlier wrote, is divorce.

Recently there has been an inflation of brutal murders in marriages; those killed are mostly women and children, and fewer men. What justification does one have to continue in a marriage where there are threats, violence, and unhappiness generated by the presence of either the husband or the wife? And unknowingly one becomes prey hunted by an in-house predator.

Sharks areamong the most intelligent aquatic animals. Their sense of smell is very sharp; they can smell and detect blood or any red object in water from a far distance and come for it at near the speed of light. Therefore, women’s body chemistry is like that of sharks; they sense and notice things easily. But what is wrong with many of them in marriage that they are unable to detect landmines or red flags early in their marriages? Where there is a threat to life with the intention to hurt, harm, and/or cause grievous injury or death, that is when they realize they are living in gross bondage if they are lucky to come out of it alive.

As students at Pluto College Sharam in Kanke-Plateau State, we were told and made to understand as boys to treat our girl students with love and care and be there for them when the need arises. That was one of the lessons that came from the late Dr. Sumaila Ndayako (Rector), as he was known and called. As boys, we dared not humiliate, insult, or threaten them in any way; rather, we were to take them as our sisters by extension. This has taught me to respect and care for the opposite sex.

Moreover, my association, membership, and experience with some human rights organizations have enlightened me with rights, liberties, and freedom garnished by respect for individual differences, rights and privileges, consent, and action. With this knowledge put together, I consider marriage never a do-or-die affair but a privilege with consent to be a husband to a woman who also has rights/consent to be a wife and live in matrimony. Why then humiliation, abuses, and domestic violence?

I have observed in my experience as a married man that if you take away some women from their husbands, they will die, and vice versa. Despite the domestic violence and abuses inflicted on either party, he/she is willing and prefers to die in such gothic marriage situations because one among them has a deep spiritual attachment to the marriage. This is common in Christendom, where “till death do us part.” My question here is, what kind of death? Intentional, accidental, or natural? This created injunction clause does not hold water in life-threatening marriages.

Living in a shark-jaws marriage, I always blamed women who had seen the red flags but refused to leave such marriages and the house-husband (husband). I further came to understand that patience and the pretext that all is well have caused damage to both spouses in terms of emotional and traumatic agonies and some to their graves.

Therefore, spouses that are trapped in this valley of death with its quagmire should know that marriage is a thing of choice. Likewise, divorce is permissible as a panacea for both to be alive to breathe freely.

Balami, a publisher/columnist, 0803677929

In Marriage Nest, Spouses Are Dying Ignoring Red Flags and The Panacea (2)

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In Marriage Nest, Spouses Are Dying, Ignoring Red Flags, and The Panacea (1)

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In Marriage Nest, Spouses Are Dying, Ignoring Red Flags, and The Panacea (1)

By: Balami Lazarus

In the quite beautiful town of Zhimbutu, where men held sway, lording over their wives, some with brutality, few with love,

care and romance others in different ways. While some women are also lords over their husbands with impunity. Fear of getting married gripped young ladies seeing the ways their mothers were being treated and relegated to the background in the affairs of their homes as married women.

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Kwanchinkwalo Xhosa is full of regrets, anger, and bitterness, where Mrs. Xhosa has been treated as an object in the marriage partnership. The red spots were obviously fermented with bubbles ready for brewing.

Similarly, some good number of marriage homes are full of regrets where love, peace, and understanding

and harmony are strangers rejected and kept in a labyrinth of doom where one of the parties is placed in a perpetual tan of unhappiness surrounded by fear in the thickness of smoke, a forced resident.

Long before, now as a young man, a legitimate product of marriage. I took marriage as a mere secular social contract of partnership bounded in love and understanding where two have agreed to live together as husband and wife in matrimony.

However, I have never taken marriage to be a do-or-die affair, which has been the stock of some persons, even when and if the two—husband and wife—can no longer live together, having exhausted reasonable avenues to no avail. Here I am.

for outright divorce as a panacea for the final dissolution of the marriage.

To this day, I have been asking myself, why did I even get married in the first place? For sex, procreation, companionship, norms, tradition, or obligation? While marriage to a larger extent has deprived me and many others of some air of freedom and liberties to do or not to do at any space of time, I suppose. Moreover, the enterprise called marriage has taken away the ‘who’ in many men and

women and made them something else. It has further forcefully taken the lives of many spouses who ignored the red flags and fear of divorce. And besides, many have taken upon themselves to live or die in an unhappy/venomous venture of marriage that is infested with ‘dysentery’ and ‘cholera,’ where death is lurking because husbands or wives lack the guts, will , ability, and/or capacity to invoke the dead-end solution.

Let me now punctuate the work with some questions: Were you forced into it? Was it under duress? Was it at gunpoint? I believed the answers were all no. What will then prevent an individual from liquidating his unprofitable marital interest in such an intense business called marriage to be free from wahala that may likely result in crime?

In such a situation, I advocate for divorce as the only and final panacea, which has a comfortable place as a clause in my dictionary of marriage. Divorce is rarely used in some quarters, no matter what. While my wife and I have sincerely agreed in the course of our marriage journey that at any point in time, with or without any reason/cause, either party can quietly and peacefully walk out of the marriage to avoid who knows what?

In the history of failed marriages and crime findings, it has been shown that one of the parties is forcing his/herself on the other spouse because one of them has a profound and compounded emotional or spiritual attachment to the marriage. The case of the late Mrs. Osinachi Nwachukwu (2023), the gospel singer, was a classical example. Patience and excessive spiritual attachment led to her being killed by her husband, one Mr. Nwachukwu. The same is also applicable to men who fall victim in the hands of their wives. This situation has created two prime suspected killers living in a marriage cocoon.

Balami, a publisher/columnist. 08036779290

In Marriage Nest, Spouses Are Dying, Ignoring Red Flags, and The Panacea (1)

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