-Resident lament as lack of roads causes death of pregnant women
-Water scarcity forced us to drink from ponds
By Zahraddeen Yakubu
“We don’t have hospital in this village and the only alternative is to go to a nearby community, Kwankwaso, which is 4 kilometers away. But many pregnant women died before reaching there as there is no road linking us to the area. Several times some women gave birth while on road to the hospital. The only place we use as hospital is dispensary clinic, which lacks the capacity to receive birth,” a seven month old pregnant woman in Kanwa village, who went to the clinic told Daily Focus.
As the 2019-2023 political dispensation has few months to its end, some communities in the rural areas of Kano State are expressing divergent views as to the success or otherwise of the government, especially in relation to the promises they have made during campaigns period. Many at times, rural areas are left behind and abandoned by politicians until when it is election period where they will seek for their votes.
Kanwa, a village under Madobi Local Government Area, which is some Kilometers away from Kano city, is among these communities that are facing many challenges bordering on education, lack of water, healthcare among many others. Apart from these challenges, the village, although blessed with arable land and water for irrigation farming, also lack access roads through which they can’t transport their farm produce to the city or markets.
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When Daily Focus visited the village, many people including men, women and children were sighted going on with their normal routines amidst difficulties. While some are busy with the farms in irrigation areas, others are fetching water from the ponds, as the only water borehole in the village is congested with people.
On the other hand, some were sighted busy with their vehicles struggling to pass through the rough dusty roads that spend decades without been repaired.
Speaking to our correspondent, a resident Umar Dalhatu Kanwa, said among the biggest challenges they are facing is lack of good roads linking them to nearby villages. He said the challenges have affected the village to the extent that they find it difficult to take their farm produce to the markets. On the other hand, he said, it also barred visitors that are supposed to come for businesses purposes into the village.
“If you want to go to Kwakwaso now from here, is a big task for you. Even though is just four kilometers away, but you have to spend hours and your body will tell you. All the roads linking to our village are bad, and yet no any attempt from the leaders to construct them.
“Another big challenge we are facing for long is lack of water. Although we have ponds around us, but we don’t have boreholes and pumps to get adequate drinking water. We had to resort to using the only borehole we have in the village which is always congested. The little wells we dug have dried off and sometimes we have to drink from the ponds where animals drinks,” he said.
He added that the most painful of it, is how they have to send their children to the pond site to wash their clothes, which may expose them to dangers surrounding the area.
On the other hand, the residents also lamented over failure of the governments to provide healthcare facility for the village. The only place they used is a dispensary clinic which provides only first aid, hence cannot address bigger health challenges and birth delivery, among other issues. Any serious illness would be referred to a hospital in a neighboring village.
“As a result of this people loses their wives while giving birth, including elderly people facing serious illness.”
Daily Focus gathered that their problems did not only stops there as their educational system is also facing its crisis which temper with smooth running of education that remains the only foundation for a better future for the children.
Although they have Primary and Junior Secondary School, both are merged together at the same place without even a mark to separate them, not to talk of fence. Additionally, one of the two block used as the primary section has turned to gamblers den, where some thugs entered to play their games smoke cigarette and other intoxicants and leave.
According to the headmaster of the school, they have been facing this challenge and that “sometimes we have to sweep the filter of cigarette from the classes before we can conduct our lessons. There was a time when I caught one of the pupils smoking from the filters of the cigarette, which is very terrible.”
A neighbor to the school, Musbahu Isa said even though each class in the primary school has over 80 students, they have only six teachers, which is not adequate for basic education.
Apart from that he decry over the dilapidating nature of the classrooms which poised a great threat to the security of the school. “At least the school should be fenced even if is just to prevent children from running because they normally walkout at their own will.”
However, despite these challenges that put the lives of the communities at risks and affects the well-being of the people, members of Kanwa village are always prayerful of getting change through a better government that will look into their problems.
These aspirations motivated them to establish a community self-help organization, Kanwa Development Association (KADA). Through the association, people in the village united themselves to vote only leaders that shows some level of commitment to solve their problems, as they said.
Abubakar Zubairu Kanwa, a member of the association said some few months ago or last year, they united themselves and agreed not to vote for anybody because the politicians have failed to fulfilled promises they take. But later they change their minds seeing the reality of life and the need for them to exercise their civic right.
“What we want from the next governor of the state is to look into our problems. They are not many but very important to us. We need road, we need hospital since our population is always increasing. And we are mobilizing people to vote only the candidates that seems to solve our problems,” he said.
A pregnant woman, Badariyya Abubakar, who went to the clinic for medication said they want to get a big hospital in the village so that they don’t have risk their lives when giving birth.
“We don’t have hospital and in the process of going to the hospital in another village we are facing problems including severe pain which sometimes leads to death because of bad roads. So we want the next government to provide us with maternity clinic and more healthcare personnel,” she inquired.
Kabiru Muhammed, another resident of the village, said only the leader that will make easier means of living to them will get their votes. He said anybody that is opportune to govern the state should fear God with his promises and ensure that he fulfils them or else he will explain in the hereafter.
For farmers in the village, said all they want from the next leaders is farm inputs that will help them develop their farming sector and get more yields.
“Any leader, especially governor that will govern the state in the next dispensation should consider our village which has farmlands and water ponds that promote farming even in dry season. But our major problem is inputs, especially fertilizer. Many of the leaders have promised to do that but they couldn’t. Also they should repair our roads so that we can easily take our farm produce to the markets,” said one of the farmers, Umar Idris.
