LETTER TO HER EXCELLENCY FIRST LADY HAJIYA TURAI YAR’ADUA
Your Excellency, I find it necessary to write this short letter to you, in response to the comment you made, as reported by Ruby Rabius of daily trust newspaper of January 18th 2009, concerning the 2009 report of United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF), on the state of the world children, which estimated that out of 5.6 million babies born in Nigeria, one million of them die annually before the age of five years. The report also said Nigeria’s national mortality ratio is 800 per 100, 000 live births, resulting in 47, 000 maternal deaths annually, “and indicating that every woman who dies of maternal causes, at least, six newborns die and four babies are still born”. Your Excellency, you categorically argued that the report “is not factual and does not reflect the true situation in the country, and therefore could not be true in the face of numerous interventions by government and other partners to reduce the alarming rate”. Your Excellency, while every Nigerian enjoys the freedom to express his or her opinion on the report, ordinary Nigerians like me are not convinced by your argument and have some comments and suggestions to offer. While I agree with you that Federal government, your self as a first lady, a select few other state governments, and development partners, and in addition, other NGOs across Nigeria, are making efforts towards the reduction of maternal and infant mortality in the country, a lot still needs to be done because most of the government health programs ended up in the cities rather than reaching out to the people at the grass root. Your Excellency, UNICEF’s report should be seen as an opportunity to re double your effort to all part of the country.
Your Excellency, are you aware of the fact that, other studies conducted by other International Humanitarian organizations also support UNICEF’s position? For Example, in 2008, Save the Children, a US-based International organization also assert that one million under-5 children die annually in Nigeria. Your Excellency, with do you respect, if you said you will not accept UNICEF’s report, what about world development indicators that was released by world bank in 2008 which shows that poverty, as its directly linked to maternal and infant mortality, is widely spread in Nigeria, with about 70% of the population living on less than 1 dollar per day? With do you respect Your Excellency, If not of the likes of donor agencies, international NGOs, Individual philanthropists, and numerous other NGOs across Nigeria, the situation would have deteriorated more than what UNICEF reported, and by looking at some past happenings in the ministry of health which led to the resignation of the then minister of health Prof. Adenike Grange, is a clear manifestation of the kind of mismanagement and other corrupt practices that has been going on in the ministry. It is also even more unfortunate to say that the performance of 2008 budget was between 40 – 45%, which is not even up to 50%.
Your Excellency, as a Development worker, and a mother to us all, and at this stage of our national live, we cannot stay dwelling on whether to accept UNICEF’s report or not, the reality is, this things are real we cannot closed our eyes and say they are not. Let us engage UNICEF and many other donor agencies to continue to help change the situation, and we need to use a more holistic collaborative approach on the issue, and it has to be done in all the three tears of government. In doing so, all the three tears should collaborate with the donor agencies, International NGOs, domestic NGOs and various other community based organizations so as to reach people at the grass root. To our wealthy Individuals, I say, its time to look up to people like Bill Gate, who came all the way from USA to make his own contribution purposely to ensure the eradication of polio in Nigeria, and start changing lives. I thank you very much your Excellency for your time, and look forward for answers to my questions. May God continue to guide all of us.
Your Excellency, I find it necessary to write this short letter to you, in response to the comment you made, as reported by Ruby Rabius of daily trust newspaper of January 18th 2009, concerning the 2009 report of United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF), on the state of the world children, which estimated that out of 5.6 million babies born in Nigeria, one million of them die annually before the age of five years. The report also said Nigeria’s national mortality ratio is 800 per 100, 000 live births, resulting in 47, 000 maternal deaths annually, “and indicating that every woman who dies of maternal causes, at least, six newborns die and four babies are still born”. Your Excellency, you categorically argued that the report “is not factual and does not reflect the true situation in the country, and therefore could not be true in the face of numerous interventions by government and other partners to reduce the alarming rate”. Your Excellency, while every Nigerian enjoys the freedom to express his or her opinion on the report, ordinary Nigerians like me are not convinced by your argument and have some comments and suggestions to offer. While I agree with you that Federal government, your self as a first lady, a select few other state governments, and development partners, and in addition, other NGOs across Nigeria, are making efforts towards the reduction of maternal and infant mortality in the country, a lot still needs to be done because most of the government health programs ended up in the cities rather than reaching out to the people at the grass root. Your Excellency, UNICEF’s report should be seen as an opportunity to re double your effort to all part of the country.
Your Excellency, are you aware of the fact that, other studies conducted by other International Humanitarian organizations also support UNICEF’s position? For Example, in 2008, Save the Children, a US-based International organization also assert that one million under-5 children die annually in Nigeria. Your Excellency, with do you respect, if you said you will not accept UNICEF’s report, what about world development indicators that was released by world bank in 2008 which shows that poverty, as its directly linked to maternal and infant mortality, is widely spread in Nigeria, with about 70% of the population living on less than 1 dollar per day? With do you respect Your Excellency, If not of the likes of donor agencies, international NGOs, Individual philanthropists, and numerous other NGOs across Nigeria, the situation would have deteriorated more than what UNICEF reported, and by looking at some past happenings in the ministry of health which led to the resignation of the then minister of health Prof. Adenike Grange, is a clear manifestation of the kind of mismanagement and other corrupt practices that has been going on in the ministry. It is also even more unfortunate to say that the performance of 2008 budget was between 40 – 45%, which is not even up to 50%.
Your Excellency, as a Development worker, and a mother to us all, and at this stage of our national live, we cannot stay dwelling on whether to accept UNICEF’s report or not, the reality is, this things are real we cannot closed our eyes and say they are not. Let us engage UNICEF and many other donor agencies to continue to help change the situation, and we need to use a more holistic collaborative approach on the issue, and it has to be done in all the three tears of government. In doing so, all the three tears should collaborate with the donor agencies, International NGOs, domestic NGOs and various other community based organizations so as to reach people at the grass root. To our wealthy Individuals, I say, its time to look up to people like Bill Gate, who came all the way from USA to make his own contribution purposely to ensure the eradication of polio in Nigeria, and start changing lives. I thank you very much your Excellency for your time, and look forward for answers to my questions. May God continue to guide all of us.
LONG LIVE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
LONG LIVE WOMEN, YOUTH AND CHILDREN
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