Shafiu Balarabe Yakubu: Man who donates blood to save lives

When Shafiu Balarabe Yakubu went to the office of the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) on Independence Way, Kaduna in July 2006 to donate blood, a little incident happened that almost made him turn back. But determined to donate blood, he refused to be discouraged. After going round looking for the NBTS office without success, […]

When Shafiu Balarabe Yakubu went to the office of the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) on Independence Way, Kaduna in July 2006 to donate blood, a little incident happened that almost made him turn back.

But determined to donate blood, he refused to be discouraged. After going round looking for the NBTS office without success, he decided to call on one of his friends who told him that the office was opposite the Ranchers Bees Stadium and that the sign board must have fallen down.

Narrating how he would have missed a date with history, Yakubu recalled how he later went back with a friend and searched until they were able to locate the NBTS office.

“Actually there was one of my friends whom I asked for a place to donate blood because each time I went for a test either for malaria or typhoid or anything else, they will ask me to go and donate blood after treatment. I was told that my haemoglobin estimation was too high. Mrs Lukman, the wife of the former minister of petroleum once took me to a medical centre when I was sick the last time she was in Nigeria, that was in 2002. They conducted a test on me in Abuja and they advised me to be donating blood. So when she went back to Australia, she encouraged me to be donating blood. 

“So as  I did not see a NBTS sign board I became confused. I went to my friend who was a staff in Kaduna State House of Assembly. I told him that I wanted to donate blood and he took me to the place and immediately I started donating blood,” he said.

Yakubu, who is a lawyer and holds a Master’s Degree in Conflict, Peace and Strategic Studies, said he was nervous on the first day as he knew he was taking a risk but that when the process started, he was relaxed and calm, an attitude he says he has maintained since 2006 when he started donating blood.

Since that experience, Yakubu says he has been consistent and has never looked back as he has never defaulted in over 11 years that he has been donating blood.

A donor is required to donate blood every three months making it four times a year.

“I was given a card, this is my third card. In five years you donate 20 times 4 times yearly. You donate every three months and after three weeks you get your result. So after every three months they contact you, whether you are a regular or irregular donor because they have your contact. So after calling for about five times I told them not to call again and that whenever I am due for donation they will see me. There were even two instances where I was out of the country and I was due for donation. I had to fly back to Nigeria to donate blood and go back. But in all other instances it was either I just came back, that is if I travel, or just before I traveled,” he said.

Yakubu said though he has donated blood a record 45 times within the 11-year period, he has not felt anything unusual in his body; as far as he is concerned, he is quite healthy. 

“In 2009, a former chief nursing officer asked me to go for a test called polycythaemia. They said that was when there was a complication that had to do with excessive blood. I went for a test at ABU Teaching Hospital Shika and I tested negative,” he said.

The 45-year-old lawyer said his friends were usually stunned when they learnt he has a passion for donating blood while his family members are happy with him.

“My friends think I am stunning; how can I be donating blood with no material reward? But I tell them I don’t do it for monetary purpose, that what drove me into this was the rate of maternal mortality. So they are proud of me,” he stated.

Asked if he has ever bothered to check if the blood he has been donating is used for that purpose, he said he felt concerned at a stage but got over it when he realized the agency he was dealing with was highly efficient.

“I think not only I; even the government cannot tolerate a situation whereby an agency will deal with human blood and not be committed,” he explained.

Yakubu said he is not on special diet but eats normally. “You can verify every statement at the NBTS, they have all my record. My blood has always been normal 100/70,100/80. For about two years my haemoglobin is always at 15.6 which is very good,” he said.

For Yakubu, though the highest one can donate blood is at the age of 75, he says he can only stop donating blood when God decides he should stop. He said ‘Definitely whatever has a starting date will come to end eventually. As for me when to stop donating I think that issue should be left hanging on the air, it’s left for God.”

He encouraged people to donate blood saying going by the prevalent nature of diseases and epidemics threatening the society donating blood can save lives. “One pint of blood can save three lives. Someone who has donated blood even if it is once, to me and to NBTS is a hero; he is better than someone who has never donated. People should not be scared or keep themselves hostage, they should donate blood. 

If people donate blood the number of certain cases in the hospital will certainly reduce,” he said. 

He said there were times when some of his friends tried to discourage him so he decided to be hiding it from them whenever he is due for donation.

On whether there could be side effects, he said, “medically the doctors told me there is no disadvantage. 

Yakubu said he dedicated his recognition as serving the cause of humanity to his late father, Malam Balarabe Yakubu, who he said was his first teacher, and to victims of insurgency in the country, adding that he is grateful to Dr. Aisha Sani, late Dr. Rilwan Lukman and his wife, Dr. Usman Shuaibu and Dr. Lawal Sarki Tafida and others for assisting him in the cause.

He called on the Federal Government to fund the NBTS and the National Assembly to immediately pass a bill establishing NBTS as an institution.