APPG Report, Health and Development

The report was an outcome of the July 2013 visit by the APPG on Nigeria, an independent, impartial and semi-official cross-party group of UK MPs and peers. The focus of the APPG’s July visit was governance and human rights, with a particular emphasis on women’s rights and gender equality. We are all aware that regrettably […]

The report was an outcome of the July 2013 visit by the APPG on Nigeria, an independent, impartial and semi-official cross-party group of UK MPs and peers. The focus of the APPG’s July visit was governance and human rights, with a particular emphasis on women’s rights and gender equality.
We are all aware that regrettably many of our leaders listen to foreign governments on local issues more than they listen to its citizens. A local advocate can engage the government for many months on issues pertaining to women and children but the government will play mute and take no action. It only requires a cocktail dinner organise by a foreign national raising same concerns to our leaders and they will take action. While this style of governance is regrettable, however we as civil societies and advocates should explore it and strategically partner with such groups to be calling our leaders to account for the promises and pledges they have.
The APPG report observed that “Women in Nigeria are largely denied the possibility of reaching their full potential and of contributing in a significant way to the economy and development of the country. Gender equality across all the main indicators including economic participation, educational attainment, health and political empowerment remains weak, and the inequality is compounded by the fact that like the majority of women across Africa, women in Nigeria are faced with double discrimination; they are not only being marginalised because they are women, but because they are poor.”
What the report observed reminded me of a call made last week in Abuja (27th November 2013) by some civil societies under the auspices of Accountanlity in Maternal Health in Nigeria (AMHiN) for Nigerian government to fulfil its pledges in the health sector for women and children.
We cannot talk about gender equality and economic growth if we can’t provide quality health care to our women and children. A peep into the press statement showed that; “Nigeria is one of the 10 worst places in which to be a mother, and has the second highest number of newborn deaths worldwide. One woman out of every 29 Nigerian woman faces a lifetime risk of death in childbirth.
This is in contrast to Ethiopia, where one woman out of 67 faces such a risk.  Currently, only 9% of Nigerians married or in-union aged 15-49 use any modern method of contraception. These numbers are shockingly low, and in stark contrast to Ethiopia where the rate is 27%.
In Bangladesh 52% of women married or in-union aged 15-49 are using modern methods of contraception. Only 2.2% of the 1,382,000 married adolescent women ages 15-19 in Nigeria are currently using any type of modern contraception. In 2011, 175,514 married adolescents did not have access to modern family planning information and services.”
Another aspect of the APPG report observed that “In Nigeria, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified in 1989 and later adopted as the Child Rights Act in 2003. Effective implementation of the Child Rights Act has been a challenge, especially in terms of huge diversity of ethnicity, religion and traditional practices to be found across the country.
To date, only 26 out of 36 states have passed the Act into law. It is not being effectively enforced and many children remain inadequately protected against a variety of abuses and lack access to education. Nigeria has some of the highest numbers of orphaned and vulnerable children in the world, at approximately 17 million.
Sexual violence against girls’ remains particularly prevalent. Access to and quality of education is a significant problem; one expert noted that civil servants often struggle to pay to send their children to school. In rural areas, children – especially girls – are often taken out of school early on, as economic necessity dictates they work to earn money for their families. ”
This re-echo that fact that there is no better empowerment than provision of quality education which begins with good primary education. In January 2013 I published an article “Health Implications to Educational rot in our Societies” in line with a visit I and some of my colleagues undertook to a primary school. It is good to refresh our minds as some points corroborated some of the issues raised by the APPG Report.
“All the classes visited from 1 to 6 were accommodating pupils over 100. In some classes there were about 150 to 170 pupils and all squatting on the floor to learn. No chairs, no desk, no mats, most of the floors weren’t cemented while those cemented; the same pot holes one witnesses on our bad roads were visibly seen.
The teachers equally were squatting to take roll call and taking some notes as pupils were learning. It was a terrible mess in a school that isn’t in a village and equally had graduated seasoned citizens of the state in all sectors of life——- In a class that is supposed to accommodate 40 – 60 pupils but accommodating 170, my mind roared to the health implication.
There will be evaporation of heat from the surface of skin, heat stagnation due to overcrowding leading to headache, nausea and at times vomiting. There will be increase of carbon dioxide and organic poisons from the expired air as well as the decrease of oxygen due to stagnation of air, increased humidity and rise of temperature which are present in an overcrowded class room. The temperature, heat, decrease in air movement, body odours, bad breath, perspiration, dirty clothes, bad oral hygiene will spread many infections.”
The APPG report is a welcome development, so also the interest of some APPG in Nigeria’s development. I see it as a positive actions that will enhance collaboration and joint advocacy with Nigerian media and civil societies to improve accountability and good governance.

All comments to Dr Aminu Magashi at [email protected]