Kaduna riverine community pleads for bridge, hospital

Alleging that expectant women on the verge of delivery hardly survive crossing a long distance river, residents of Hayin Kogi-Mishigi, a riverine community located in Igabi local government council of Kaduna Sate, have pleaded with both the state and federal governments to provide them with medical facilities, so as to prevent further untimely deaths.

The residents also asked government to construct bridge for them, pointing out that they are exposed to series of danger while crossing the river, adding that the only route connecting their community with other places is the long river.

The people Hayin Kogi-Mishigi, especially their womenfolk, are successful  local farmers  and fishermen, as such apart from lacking  medical facilities in the community, they complained  of difficulty in transporting their farm produce to market,  for lack of motorable road.

They lamented that absence of hospital or medical facilities contribute to childhood and maternal deaths, saying they have no other option than to cross the long river with canoe in order to get needed medical attention.

A villager,  Mallam Shamsindeen Abdulmudallib,  told journalists that he lost his pregnant wife, while crossing the River with her on canoe, adding: “Although my friends assisted me in carrying her to the riverside, but  she was bleeding seriously and at the time we arrived hospital, she was already dead.”