The abandonment of the once well-equipped primary health centre in Kurmin-Daudu, Kawu Ward of the Bwari area council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), is a systemic failure where security collapse turns health facilities into abandoned assets.
Development Diaries reports that, according to a special report by Daily Trust, the Kurmin-Daudu community primary health centre has since been left in ruins due to the fear of bandit attacks.
It is understood that the Kurmin-Daudu community, which sits on the FCT border shared with neighbouring Kaduna and Nasarawa states and is located over nine kilometres from Kawu, is inhabited mostly by peasant farmers.
This story shows a system where insecurity and service collapse feed each other. It also reveals a deeper governance habit, which reflects maintenance failure.
While a senior official at the Bwari area council health department revealed that plans are underway to rehabilitate the health centres in Kurmin-Daudu and the neighbouring Gidan-Bijimi community, as he says projects have been captured in the council’s budget, but ‘captured in the budget’ is not the same as delivery.
If the council cannot show the exact budget line, the amount, the contractor, the timeline, and the stage of procurement, then the promise is empty.
Furthermore, it is important to note that this breakdown is pushing the most vulnerable residents into survival choices that carry lifelong consequences. It hits pregnant women and newborns first, as night-time labour now means risky motorcycle journeys over long distances to Kawu.
It hits poor households who cannot afford transport fares or private care and must delay treatment or rely on unsafe alternatives. It also hits women and girls hardest, as when the borehole fails, they carry the burden of trekking to streams for water, and when the school deteriorates and teachers stay away, girls are the first to drop out and join farm work.
The FCT Primary Health Care Board and the Federal Capital Territory Administration Health and Human Services Secretariat must reopen the PHC with minimum safe staffing and supply chain by a fixed date, then scale.
The Nigeria Police Force should guarantee safe access for health workers and rapid response during clinic hours and at night.
Residents have strong, practical demands to make now. They can ask for a published ‘Kurmin-Daudu PHC Recovery Plan’ within 14 days, showing a reopening date, staff numbers, security arrangements, equipment replacement, and a referral plan.
They can also demand proof of the budget line items for the clinic and boreholes, with contractors and timelines, and insist on an ‘essential workers protection package’ before any staff are posted back.
They can request borehole repair tied to a maintenance contract and a water committee and also push for emergency school repairs and teacher attendance enforcement.
Photo source: Commonwealth Secretariat
