Painful reminder for survivors of Oct. 1st bombs

Now retired from the police force, Mr. Etim still nurses the wounds from the blast and says he has for the past three months been using the money from his retirement benefits to settle his medical bills as the federal government has stopped footing them. “I have to source for money now from my small […]

Now retired from the police force, Mr. Etim still nurses the wounds from the blast and says he has for the past three months been using the money from his retirement benefits to settle his medical bills as the federal government has stopped footing them. “I have to source for money now from my small benefits to settle my medical bills,” he told Weekly Trust at his residence in Maikunkele, a suburb in Minna, Niger State.

 

His greatest worry now he says is he would soon go for another operation on his right leg which shattered following the bomb blast and does not know where to raise the money to pay for the operation, even though he has not been told how much it will cost.  “They told us at the hospital that the money deposited for the treatment of bomb blast victims had finished, so we had to leave,” he said. And while in accordance to the policy of the Nigeria Police Force he was supposed to be paid compensation for his shattered limb, he was not paid a kobo either by the federal government of Nigeria or the Nigeria police force.

“Apart from the free treatment we received, government did not give me a single kobo, despite series of promises that we would be compensated,” he says. With five children to see through school, three already in university and two seeking for admission into the university, he worries that the little he has been able to save would be exhausted by his hospital bills.

Another police officer hit by the October bomb, Haruna Hassan, says life has not been the same again for him as he has already lost sight in one of his eyes while the other is gradually going.  He said he has exhausted all he had trying to find a lasting solution to his eyesight problem but all to no avail. He said: “When this unfortunate incident happened, I was treated in Maitama Hospital for 16 days after which we were compulsorily discharged as the hospital authorities said the government paid our bills for only 16 days. We had no choice than to leave. But while we were there, the First Lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan, paid us a visit and promised to take me outside the country to treat my eye if it could not be done here. Before we were discharged from the hospital, I was referred to Asokoro Hospital where I was admitted for 3 weeks before being referred to the Kaduna Eye Clinic. After weeks spent in treatment, it was confirmed to me that one of the eyes had been damaged completely. I was then told that they had no equipment to treat my case. I had no choice than to use the little I had to seek medical attention at ECWA Eye Clinic, Gwagwalada.”

Haruna says, “Things became tougher and very difficult for me that I had no choice than to send my wife and kids back to the village while I stayed back to look for a lasting solution to my health condition. My kids have dropped out of school for almost one year now. I feel bad because I can no longer carry out my fatherly responsibilities. And to know that they have to be treated like this at such a tender stage in life breaks my heart.”

Angry at the way he was treated by the Nigerian Police Haruna had taken his case to human rights organizations who took up his case, whereupon he was informed that the Nigerian Police has an eye clinic that he could attend. He was later told to provide the receipts of the money he spent treating his eyes.

He said: “The AIG Medical has been very helpful since he got to know about my case, and has helped to pay for my trips to Lagos for medical check-up. Though I have not resumed work due to my health all my salary is being exhausted on treatment as I don’t want the only eye I have to go blind. But I thank God that I have friends and relatives that still have good hearts and they have been coming to my aid by providing me with feeding and accommodation.”

Mayowa Adeniran, an orphan and a graduate of Geology from the Federal University of Technology Minna, had his ear struck during the blast. Now he says: “I really felt bad regarding the whole thing because when we were in critical conditions promises were made to us and none has been fulfilled. The government has not shown that it cares for its citizens with the way they treated us. When they came to see us in the hospital last year, I told them that I would prefer if I could be given a job because even if they give us money, it would not take us anywhere and really that is what is happening. I still have problems with my ear and might need a hearing aid but I cannot afford it. The drugs are really expensive and I don’t think I can keep up with the expenses.” Mayowa now recalls, ruefully, how when the First Lady came to his sick bed she promised to be his mother and even gave him her complimentary card for him to reach her when he leaves his sick bed. “But since we got discharged anytime I call her, her Director of Protocol keeps telling me to look elsewhere, that one day God will do it for me.”

Abubakar Agie, a VIO, who was also hit by the blast, says he could not estimate the amount he had spent since he was discharged from the hospital. “I still have pending treatment in the hospital as I speak to you, but we are handicapped,” he says.

As for Austine Michael, the bitterness of being abandoned by the government since the bomb incident has made him bitter. “At least some people with good and humane hearts have given us the little hope we can depend on. For now, I leave everything to God.”