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● Yobe State Completes Healthcare Renovation in Tarmuwa LGA
● Kano State Government kickstarts the Refurbishment of Kantudu Primary Healthcare Centre
The Yobe State Government have confirmed the complete renovation of the Primary Healthcare Centre
(PHC) at Lantewa community of Tarmuwa Local Government Area; effectively reinstating the provision of
maternal health delivery services which were suspended, and assuring first mile health service delivery to
at least 2,000 children of Lantewa and the surrounding villages.
This development comes in the wake of continuous advocacy by Connected Development (CODE)
through its well documented ‘Follow The Money’ — an initiative through which it consistently calls for
transparency and accountability as a key part of social contracting between the government and
communities by strengthening the capacities of communities to be involved in the monitoring and
evaluation process of contracts awarded within the premises of such communities.
Follow the Money Yobe State team had been tracking the N420 million pool sum received by the Yobe
State Government from the World Bank’s “Save One Million Lives” Scheme, to improve the healthcare
system in the State; and discovered that it will be futile to retrain existing staff and employ more health
extension staff to Lantewa, while the health facility is out of use. This prompted further investigations,
which resulted in Tarmuwa Local Government Area confirming an award of a N15.17m contract to
renovate the health facility and its staff quarters. Prior to the renovation work, the PHC at Lantewa was
the only one out of 22 in Tarmuwa Local Government Area lacking maternal health delivery services,
emergency transport, skilled birth attendants and other staffing needs, despite serving an estimated
5,000 people.
The World Bank’s Save One Million Lives Initiative Program-for-Results (PforR) Scheme for Nigeria aims
at increasing the utilization and quality of high impact reproductive, child health, and nutrition
interventions. The hope is that the PforR model will help save lives and increase transparency in
management and budgeting for primary healthcare across Nigeria.
In a similar development, Kano State Government have begun renovations at the Kantudu Primary
Healthcare Centre in Makoda Local Government Area; as confirmed by the community’s chief, Alhaji
Muhammad Musa, to the Follow The Money team yesterday.
CODE’s Follow The Money had in 2016, begun tracking N137 million funding allocated for the renovation
of 4 PHCs in Kano State, demanding transparency and accountability from the government. Now that
work has begun at Kantudu, it is believed that upon completion, the facility will carter to the healthcare
needs of 5,000 people across 13 surrounding villages.
First mile healthcare delivery in Nigeria is a challenge, with many PHCs often the victims of neglect,
deterioration and ill maintenance largely attributed to poor funding and mismanagement. In recent years,
Nigeria have continuously ranked high on the maternal and under 5 child mortality rates, most prevalent
in peri-urban and rural parts of the country.
According to the CEO of CODE, Mr. Hamzat Lawal, the State Governments’ receptiveness towards
implementing these projects now is commendable, however, immediate response to the call by the
Follow the Money in 2016, would have had a significant effect in the reduction of maternal mortality and
epidemics in the region.
Driven by the quest to bring about a more operational and open government, CODE set up Follow the
Money initiative, to accurately verify and ensure public funds budgeted for developmental projects are
being utilised for such purposes. This initiative is also committed to strengthening local communities by
creating platforms for dialogue, enabling informed debate, and building capacities of citizens on how to
hold their government accountable.
