Grace Joseph's labor pains began at 9am on a quiet morning in the Tan-Jol area of Plateau State earlier this year. With each passing hour, the discomfort became more intense.
However, as she endured the pain, what stood out most in her mind was the uncertainty of where she would give birth to her child. In Tan-Jol, a village in Riyom Local Government Area (LGA) in Plateau State, there is no health center or midwife.
At midday, her husband had gone out to find a neighbor who had a car, their only hope of reaching the nearest clinic in Vwak-Jol, a 10-kilometer journey over rough, unpaved roads.
“He (the neighbor) took us to the Vwak clinic but they said they couldn't stand it,” he said.
The clinic, a converted church, lacked the necessary equipment for complicated births. Staff suggested they head to Vom Christian Hospital, a larger facility another 30 kilometers away, in nearby Jos South LGA.
The primary health care clinic in Vwak
The road to Vom had seen better days. The bumps in the road coincided with the growing anxiety in the car. When they arrived, the doctors assessed her and shook their heads.
The Vom Christian hospital was also not equipped for his case. It was already too late to risk traveling an additional hour and a half to the Plateau State Specialist Hospital in Jos, the state capital. So Mrs. Joseph, along with her husband and the neighbor who had become her driver, had no choice but to return home and try again the next day.
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The next morning she gave birth to the baby at the state specialized hospital, but the baby did not survive.
“The doctors said that the baby had suffered exhaustion due to prolonged labor,” she said sadly.
Mrs. Joseph, her husband and the neighbor had done everything they could, but distance, delays and the lack of a functioning health center close to home had taken her son from her arms. Her case thus adds to the exhausting statistics on infant mortality in Nigeria, where around 54 babies die for every 1,000 live births.
However, in Tan-Jol, Mrs Joseph's story is not unique.
“Most of the time, when a woman goes into labor, the family has to find someone who has a bicycle or a car to take her to the Vwak clinic, and when it is night, the pregnant woman is taken to the clinic. home of a “She is a woman who owns a pharmacy in the community and in most cases she does not accept it for fear of complications that may occur and lead to death,” said Deborah Alfred, a resident of the community. “In situations like that, the woman and her family have no choice but to go back and give birth at home and just pray for a safe delivery.”
View of the abandoned clinic in Tan-Jol
In Tan-Jol, where an abandoned and unfinished clinic is a clear symbol of abandonment, countless women face the same harrowing journey when it comes time to give birth. Like Mrs Joseph, pregnant women and their families endure long and dangerous journeys across miles of countryside in search of the medical care that should exist in their community.
Often, by the time they get help, it is too late. Mothers lose babies and families lose mothers, largely because a health center that should have been completed more than two decades ago remains a promise, crumbling and overgrown with weeds.
Built for your well-being, left to rot
The abandoned health centre, opened more than 20 years ago by Emmanuel Jugu, a former member of the state House of Assembly, was supposed to serve as a ray of hope for the community.
The building was roofed in 2004, but work stopped, leaving it unfinished, a constant reminder of broken promises. Although the Plateau State Government allocated £9.5 million in 2021 to complete the project under the supervision of the Plateau State Primary Health Care Development Agency, there is no sign of progress. A review of state budget allocations since 2017 reveals that no additional funds have been designated for the project.
The partially constructed building now stands as a monument to broken promises. Weeds have invaded its walls and a recent crisis between farmers and shepherds has damaged part of its structure.
Village head Dachung Gwong lamented that the absence of a functioning clinic puts all community members, especially women and children, at risk. With motorcycles being the main mode of transportation, villagers face deadly risks when traveling to distant health centers, especially at night when insecurity is worst.
“The herdsmen attacked and killed my son, his wife and my granddaughter when they were returning from the clinic in Vwak,” said Laraba Choji, a resident whose voice shook with pain.
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Gwong said the community has contacted local authorities on several occasions, pleading for the clinic to be completed, but their cries have gone unanswered.
“We want them to complete this clinic,” he said. “We cannot point to any dividend of democracy in this community, but we vote during the elections – the ballot boxes come here,” said Jugu Bulus, spokesperson for the Tan-Jol Youth Council. “We even don't have a good water system, like a well, from which we can get clean water (sic). “We don’t even have a single elementary school in this community.”
Rear view of the abandoned clinic in Tan-Jol
Local clinic overwhelmed
The closest health center to Tan-Jol is the Vwak clinic which was unable to attend to Mrs Joseph's delivery earlier this year. Not only is it poorly equipped, but the few staff working there are also overwhelmed.
According to Doreen Ngwe, head of the Vwak primary health clinic, more than six nearby communities, including Tan-Jol, depend on the clinic. “Right now we also have a staff shortage, which makes work even more stressful,” he told UDEME. “If there had been more health centers in nearby communities, it would have been better.”
Vwak clinic signage.
Every time the farmers and herders crisis breaks out in the community, Mrs Ngwe and her staff are caught between caring for the various victims or fleeing for safety. “It's a struggle,” he added.
The government remains silent
The government's silence is deafening. On September 2, UDEME submitted a freedom of information request to the executive secretary of the Plateau State Primary Health Care Development Agency in Jos seeking detailed information on the abandoned project. Despite multiple follow-up calls and messages to the office secretary, there has been no response.
Two weeks after the FOI was filed, the office confirmed it was sent to the agency's Director of Administration. Subsequent queries were ignored and the FOI has yet to receive a response at the time of this report.