New Nigerian Newspapers Online Edition

Maryam Babangida is today being celebrated in death as in life. This is due to a larger extent, her exploit as the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the hey days of the military. Maryam no doubt brought glamour, suave and the plight of the down trodden to the front burner through her pet project “Better Life for Rural Women”.

Since the coming of Maryam Babangida, the position of first ladyship and pet project has not remained the same till date. It is a known fact that some First Ladies used their office as conduit pipe to siphon public fund especially from state ministries of Women Affairs that have become, in some states, an extension of the office of the First Lady. As a result, when some of them leave office or rather when their spouses vacate the position of authority, they and their pet projects also become extinct.

Kaduna State First Lady and the wife of the Governor, Hajiya Amina Namadi Sambo is by design or accident an in-law of the late Maryam Babangida. Amina like many a first lady has a pet project; “I-Care for Women and Youth Initiative” through which she has touched many a less privileged set of people, especially women and youth as the name goes.

From Computer training to tailoring, welding, weaving and other empowerment skills, some individuals have smiled. But the latest feat was the rescue of people that ordinarily would have lost their sight forever due to lack of medical attention or inability to access health facilities where available due to poverty.

Cataract and glaucoma are two eye diseases that afflict a great population of the people in African sub region especially among the less privilege. Cataract is a disease of the eye in ‘which the normal transparent lens become opaque’ while Glaucoma is ‘characterized by an increase of pressure of the fluids within the eyeball, leading to gradual loss of vision and blindness’.

Between 7th and 16th of December, 2009, ‘I-Care’, in conjunction with Federation of Islamic Medical Association (FIMA) a Non Governmental Association (NGO) organized free medical eye screening in the 23 local governments in the state. During the exercise, 2,843 people had their eyes screened out of which 592 were discovered to be suffering from cataract and other eye defects.

Disturbed by the plight of those people and the tale of woes of what they have gone through since their vision became impaired; ‘I-Care’ in collaboration with FIMA again, organized free eye surgery for these people.

The surgery held at Yusuf Dantsoho Memorial Hospital Tudun Wada, Kaduna between 29th December, 2009 and 2nd January, 2010. Initially the estimated 592 were billed to be operated by a team of foreign Ophthalmologists joined by the ‘I-Care’ personnels on ground. But by the time the operation took off on the morning of December 29th, the news spread and the number more than bulged forcing the personnel to make provision for the extra number and accommodate them all.

At the hospital, many of the patients could not hide their excitement just as some took the floor in tears, jubilating; hands raised sky wards in prayers for the First Lady. As some one said at the venue, you may not understand the plight of the patient before and the excitement after the operation except if you have once lost your sight and regained it again.

Some said they were farmers, traders, hunters and so all with children and wards to cater for. But since the affliction by cataract or glaucoma, they could not cater for their dependents but rather became liabilities to others. For some, the education of their children and wards suffered a set back as there was no one ready to shoulder their responsibilities. With the operation and the regaining of their sight, elated, they said they could now continue with their lives, eking out a living and take up their responsibilities once again.

“We are positioned to empower the less privileged-members of our society. Some were blind and we did our best to see how they could get their sight back and we hope that after this operation, the level of blindness would reduce in Kaduna State” was the words of the First Lady in an interview with journalists at the hospital.

Overcome by emotion at the sight of the patients shedding tears of joy and jumping up in jubilation with rains of prayers for her and the medical team, the First Lady could not hold back her tears as her tear ducts gave way to the stronger emotion of the moment. More emotional was the case of an elderly woman in her sixties who could not stop jubilating when the cotton wools as removed from her eyes and another who broke down, overcome by joy when she was asked to say a word or two on behalf of the patients.

Governor Namadi Sambo, his Deputy Mr. Patrick Yakowa, the Head of Service Alhaji Balarabe Yakubu, the PDP state Chairman and a host of others paid unexpected visit to the hospital while the operation was on-going. They all trouped into the operating theater and saw first hand Ophthalmologists at work. For each surgery, it took between seven to ten minutes and the patient was out.

Elated by what they saw, Governor Sambo like a boy whose brother had just scored a goal to win his country a laurel could not hide is excitement. It was virtually written all over him. It was like ‘yes, my wife has done me proud again, I am the First Guy and she is the First Lady’. “This is extremely impressive and we would continue to support this humanitarian service. I expressed my appreciation to the people offering this service to those that ordinarily would have been blinded for the rest of their life” elated Sambo said in an interview.

In a chart with New Nigerian, the team leader of the foreign Medical Doctors, Dr. Intzar Hussain Butt, Consultant Ophthalmologist and Assistant Professor, Department of Ophthalmology Services, Institute of medical Sciences and Services Hospital, Lahore Pakistan said they have had fifteen Eye Surgery Camps in Nigeria with Kaduna been the latest as at then.

According to him about one million Nigerians are blind as a result of Cataract, Glaucoma, diabetes, lack of Vitamin C among other reasons. 75 percent of the blindness is reversible he said with prompt and good medical attention to the patients.

Intzar revealed that so far they have had about 50,000 successful eye surgeries in Africa with the bulk of it in West Africa. 90 percent of the doctors he said were from Pakistan and collect no dime for the services render. In Nigeria, so far 7,500 successful eye surgeries were carried out and largely in the North. In the case of the Kaduna surgery, nine foreign Ophthalmologists were involved with two from Jordan and another two from Saudi Arabia.

The total of 250 Ophthalmologists from Pakistan are offering their services all around Africa free of charge in collaboration with some individuals, NGOs such as Amina Namadi’s I-Care, Faith Based Organizations (FBOs) and others Intzar stressed. The Pakistani Doctor never ceased praising the efforts of Retired Air Vice Marshal Hamza Abdullahi especially in their operations in Dutse, Jigawa State. The presence of the retired Air Force daughter; Fatima Hamza Maiborno once a commissioner for Women Affairs in Jigawa State spoke volume of what the foreign doctors described as “Nigerian unique hospitality” to visitors and the sense of humanitarian services to the needy.

All said and done, if the wives off state governors would emulate this kind of gesture and put smile on many forlorn faces, a lot more burdens would have been taken off the shoulders of some and empower them for self reliance. For Hajiya Amina Namadi, if like her predecessor in office; Hajiya Asmau Makarfi, she could look of modalities for her pet project to out live her reign as the First Lady, it would go a long way in bringing succour to the less privilege.

Like her in-law; the late Maryam Babangida, Amina Sambo may be celebrated long after quitting the stage if that tempo is sustained. As she promised to make the exercise a continuous one, for the over six hundred people who benefited from the free eye surgery in Kaduna State, Hajiya Amina Namadi Sambo has through ‘I-Care’ empowered the less privilege through ‘eye care’.

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