In the past, the Kurmin-Daudu community in Kawu Ward, Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, could boast of a magnificent primary health center. However, the facility has since been left in ruins due to the fear of bandit attacks.
Kurmin-Daudu, located over nine kilometers from Kawu, is inhabited mostly by peasant farmers. The community sits on the FCT border shared with neighboring Kaduna and Nasarawa states.
During a visit to the community on Tuesday, our reporter gathered from residents that the facility —built and well-equipped during the administration of the late Bwari Area Council Chairman, Peter Yohana Ushafa — has become a shadow of its former self.
Villagers noted that the center once served not only their community but also surrounding villages in Kaduna and Nasarawa states.
Residents said the personnel manning the facility were forced to abandon their posts following incessant bandit attacks in neighboring villages.
A community member, Daudu Shehu, explained that the facility was once the primary source of medical treatment and antenatal care for locals.
“Since the banditry escalated a few years ago, personnel fled for fear of being abducted. This has left the health center and its equipment in ruins. The facility has remained under lock and key ever since,” Shehu said.
Consequently, he added that patients and pregnant women are often stranded or forced to travel nearly nine kilometers to Kawu for treatment.
Another resident, Yunusa Isyaku, described the situation as a “nightmare,” noting that residents must transport sick family members to Kawu via motorcycle.
Isyaku added that although the facility was closed 11 years ago, the physical decay has accelerated significantly in recent times.
The community’s youth leader, Gambo Saleh, noted that residents have written to the council authorities several times requesting the rehabilitation of the facility, especially now that security has improved.
“Aside from official letters, I personally met with the former supervisory councillor for health. Despite his assurances that he would alert the chairman, nothing has been done,” Saleh lamented.
The Secretary to the Village Head, Bala Nata’allah, echoed these frustrations, noting that the palace’s repeated requests to the council have been futile.
He highlighted the extreme danger of the current situation, especially during nighttime emergencies.
“Last year, when my wife was in labour at night, I had to take the risk of conveying her to Kawu health center on a motorcycle, where she eventually delivered,” he shared.
Nata’allah also lamented the acute water scarcity in the area.
He said the community’s only functional hand-pump borehole has been broken for years, forcing women to trek long distances to scoop water from streams — a task that becomes nearly impossible during the dry season.
The youth leader further noted that the community’s primary school is in a deplorable state. Roofs have been blown off by windstorms, and teachers rarely show up. Nata’allah stated that many parents, feeling abandoned by the government, have simply engaged their children in farming instead.
During a tour of the health facility, our reporter observed collapsing ceilings, cracked walls, and wards overtaken by reptiles and cobwebs. Equipment inside the patient wards appeared to be in advanced stages of decay.
A senior official at the Bwari Area Council health department, speaking on condition of anonymity, told our reporter on Tuesday night that plans are underway to rehabilitate the health centers in Kurmin-Daudu and the neighboring Gidan-Bijimi community.
“The projects have been captured in the council’s budget,” the official stated, adding, “The council has also budgeted for the drilling and rehabilitation of boreholes in both communities, especially now that the security situation has improved.”
