Rivers State commissioner for Health, Dr. Adaeze Chioma Oreh, has told relevant stakeholders that her door and ears are open, and that she is ready to take on suggestions that would make all work together for progress in the state.
The Health commissioner made the pronouncement while speaking as the special guest of honour at the Connected Development, CODE/Ford Foundation One-Day Close-Out Meeting held at Visa Karina Hotel, Port Harcourt, on Friday September 29, 2023, which had in attendance, stakeholders comprising of traditional rulers, community development committee leaders, CDCs, drawn from various communities and local government areas in Rivers State as well as government agencies, civil society organizations and the media.
The commissioner stated, “ I feel that this opportunity to meet stakeholders gathering this morning, is an opportunity for me to communicate to you that my door is open, my ears are open and I’m ready to take on suggestions that would make us work together for progress.”
Dr. Oreh said that as an appointee of the government, she also sees herself as a representative of the people, adding that their positions and mindset, welcome their suggestions and sharing of experiences that will inform the decisions that they take in government.
The role of government she stated, is to improve the lives and wellbeing of the people and if the people are, omitted from the plans and solutions are developed, such efforts are doomed to fail. But “by welcoming and including the voices of the people at the community level do we hope to make practical solution to improve the quality of health care delivery in our communities and in the state”.
The state of social amenities in communities was the focus of the CODE/Ford Foundation accountability project which had highlighted poor service delivery in education and healthcare especially in target rural communities.
In apparent reference to this, the commissioner stated that a robust healthcare system will take into cognizance the leadership of communities to help properly address identified gaps.
“So, if we are talking about a robust health system, we are talking about leadership and governance and we cannot forget the importance of leadership and governance at the community level.
“And then we talk about financing from the leadership and governance, from the solutions that have been proffered, the gaps that have been demonstrated or clearly shown, we can then start dedicating financing to address those gaps”.
She added, “When we talk about access to essential medicines. A lot of our centres have frequent stock-outs of medicines. And it is those frequent stock-outs that add to the confidence that people would get adequate care that they need when they go to those primary health centres or even the general hospitals.
“And so, that is an area of focus on how we can strengthen accessibility and ready availability of essential medicines for our people at the community level”.
On workforce, the recently appointed commissioner said the problem is not peculiar to Rivers State, informing that efforts are being made to get the governor to improve workers welfare in the sector.
“And then we talk about health work-force. We have a problem that is not exactly unique to the state. A lot of us have heard about brain drain, heard about the Japa syndrome, and this is because where the health workers in Nigeria are not as compensated for their services as those abroad, it seems more enticing to leave the country or even leave the state if there are more attractive opportunities out the state.
“And so, one of the things that are brought to His Excellency’s attention is the need for adequate compensation of our health care workers because this would add to the motivation of health care workers.
She pointed out that the management of information in the state’s health-care system is also an area of vital importance.
“Data is significant for us to assess progress, to see where we are and then assess what we are doing, the intervention that we put in place. If we are not recoding, if we are not recording, if we are not documenting, then we cannot monitor and we cannot assess”.
“And so, service delivery, we have the infrastructure in place, you have the health-care workers, you have the medicines, how long do you have people waiting to access service?
Dr. Adaeze added that improvement in service delivery will also be looked into.
“Those who are available, who have been engaged and employed to offer services, how readily available when the patients come in to interact with the health service?
… that is another thing that we will be looking at accessing in the course of our work at the Rivers State Ministry of Health”.
“It is based on this aspect that I will be addressing myself and looking towards getting information, from you (CODE) and the communities to access us (Ministry of Health) who are here to serve.
Answering question on how to revitalize existing primary health centres and what the government is planning to do where primary health centres do not exist, the Rivers State Health commissioner, Dr Adaeze Oreh said,
“Following my appointment, one of the engagements with His Excellency involved a discussion about knowing/assessing  the state of our existing primary health care facilities and mapping them according to records so that we know where existent facilities are, where they are not, and accessing the functionality of those that are existing.
“And so, one of the priority of those administration is to ensure that, every community in every ward in the state has a workable primary health care centre. What that means, is that we are looking at upgrading those that are existing vis avis the gaps that have been identified and equipping them to ensure that they can provide quality health care services”.
On Omoku General Hospital, she said it is one of the matters already before the governor for his decision and necessary action because, “Omoku General Hospital has been central to many discussions about revamping and revitalization”.
A representative of chairman of the Universal Basic Education Board, Mr. Nwuzi Ntamabari, who is the director of physical planning commended CODE/Ford Foundation on their advocacy and their numerous impactful programmes. He encouraged them to do more.
Commenting on the state of affairs in the education sector, Ntamabari said there is an overwhelming demand for attention.
According to him, “We have a lot of issues like the primary Education Board, Rivers State Universal Basic Education, and the management of primary and secondary schools.
“Concerning the structures, we have difficulty; just like what we have been doing, we receive letters for intervention amplifying what the communities need. We receive all these letters for renovation, building, furniture and the likes.
Ntamabari said his board is constrained on what, “we can do per year but has been doing its best according to availability of funds”, adding that demands on what is needed from various schools are high on weekly basis.
He said, for instance, in Etche Local Government Area, out of 20 submissions received, the board could only handle two, noting that “education for all, is a responsibility for all”, so, all hands must be on the deck to provide needed amenities.
He thanked the organizers for the programme, and urged them to sustain the momentum while assuring that his agency will continue to do its best.
In his key note address, Dr. Anthony Obuah stressed that CODE is doing well in all the communities through its advocacy activities by bringing information to the government on abandoned projects in the communities and at the same time, following up.
Dr. Obuah, who is the CDC chairman of Akpabu community in Emohua Local Government Area, commended CODE on its efforts in galvanizing the renovations of some primary and secondary schools in some communities, noting that most primary, secondary schools and primary health centers in rural communities are dilapidated, and deserve attention.
According to him, communities need modern water facilities, and not the energy sapping mono pump.
Dr. Obua called on CODE to ensure oil companies are invited to future accountability events because they also have a lot to offer, as they conduct their businesses in the rural communities in the state.
“Non-Governmental Organization, NGOs, need support from government and donor agencies to enable them work and liberate communities from suffering,” he added.
CODE’s Principal Researcher, Dr. Austin Okere, in his recommendation noted that having worked far, he believes that CODE can do more.  He commended the committee/team and others for their contribution as, well as the implementing agencies that worked with them because it is keeping track of development is very important.
“When we look at the depth of expansion, there is room for improvement. We can improve, we can do more; if we actually come together we can do more,” he stated.
On social inclusion in governance, he said there is need to improve to have more women participating, more women speaking. Women representation at most community engagements was low.
CODE’s programme officer, Nkem Ibeh called for feedback from the teams as, champions, the traditional rulers, CDCs and other stakeholders who played important roles in different capacities to ensure that governments are held accountable and who, also made important demands as regard the needs of the target communities.
She urged them to share their challenges that they encountered with access to government agencies and other areas.
In an interview with Stakeholder Chie Osakwe Gift from Ogbakata Community in Omoku, shortly after the event, he said, “Well, this is an NGO (CODE) that is saddled with the responsibility of projecting some communities in terms of facilitating most of the communities projects either abandoned projects or new projects that can help the communities in terms of their social development.
“So, it’s a good organization and Omoku communities would properly wish to identify with them in most of our projects, and we will work with them and will always be happy to be with them.
“We have the Omoku General Hospital being sponsored by the Rivers State Government under the administration of ex-governor Nyesom Wike, but the project has stayed longer than expected, the contractor could not be able to give us any good reason why the project should not be completed by now.
“Everybody knows the importance of a general hospital, that is where we can get ourselves treated in one sickness or the other, and when the hospital is not functioning it virtually affects inhabitants of the communities”.
He called on the state government to fast-track the completion of the hospital.
“We are appealing that government should fast-track the completion of the hospital and this has been made known in the CODE representation and we hope they will also find all the modalities that will help keep the hospital in a finishing point.”
Through the CODE intervention, some dilapidated or abandoned projects in communities in the state have received attention and community voices tracking government projects have increased. The project which spanned over two years, covered Oyibo Urban, Idama, Bomu, Goi, Ekpena, Umuechem, Omoku, Odawu, Odiemerenyi, Elele, among others.
Other CODE officers that attended the One-Day Close Out meeting include, Ijeoma Oforka, Rivers State Lead CODE, Evelyn Williams, Charles Timothy and community champions.
