SITTING on a bench in the waiting room at Wumba Primary Health Centre, located in Apo Resettlement Area, an outskirt of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, Aishetu Audu fans herself with a notebook.

The sweltering heat in her ward which she also shared with another patient was unbearable. She later sought respite outside the ward where hours earlier she was delivered of a baby boy.

The Wumba PHC which is the closest to Aishetu is about 45 minutes from her home. She was rushed to the clinic early that August morning.

From the ward window, she could see glowing light bulbs across some houses on the street, but the health centre had no electricity.

“Houses across the street at least have a few hours of power supply daily, but a clinic that should have lighting for patients is in darkness. Look at me running around the clinic looking for fresh air and cool breeze,” she said.
The ceiling fan in Aishetu’s wardroom had not worked since February 2019, after the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, AEDC, disconnected the community health clinic from the national grid.

The health centre was disconnected because its outstanding electricity bills had accumulated to over N100,000 ($262.5) which it cannot afford.

Currently, it depends on a petrol-powered 1.5Kva generator which gulps s N6,000 ($15) worth of fuel every week, according to Mary John, the health officer in charge. This means N24,000 ($62) is kept aside monthly, as fuel costs.

“We put on the generator mostly at nights or whenever there is an emergency such as when a woman is in labour or during cases where minor surgeries are performed at the centre,” she said.

But the noise from the generating set is another problem.

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These are the type news you hear in a successful country. Supporters club oya over to you. Preach to me how the country is now the best place to love in.