*** Offers her scholarship, renames Teaching Hospital’s Pediatric Unit as Hauwa’u
By ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi-
Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has received the six-year old child, whose genitals were removed in Jama’are Local Government Area of the state for ritual purpose, after three corrective surgeries.
Receiving little Hauwa’u Ya’u and her family at the Government House, Bauchi, the governor who condemned the act against the minor, said it was a reflection of the decay in the society.
He said: “I am really delighted to see my little Hawa’u back as a normal person, an innocent six-year-old that was mercilessly mutilated in her genitals and rooted and today we are receiving her, it’s a miracle that she’s a normal person, so, we must thank God almighty for this”.
“All the stages of her reconstruction, all the surgeries were successful God has answered our prayers; it is not everyone that can be so lucky like little Hauwa’u. I wouldn’t believe that this is the same girl that was almost on the verge of being taken to the grave that is sitting down with us”.
“The travail of this our baby is the whole reflection of our detoriaration as a society and our descent as a people. It is with a mixed feeling that I meet her, because if somebody will see this innocent girl and then carry knives and cutlasses and then uproot her precious body just because of cultism or voodism or whatever, it is very unfortunate.”
Governor Mohammed appreciated the medical team and management of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital for performing such a feat, noting that it is an attestation that Nigeria’s medical systems are working, for it only require some level of seriousness to be shown by the leaders.
He also announced the renaming of the pediatric section of the Teaching Hospital after Hauwa’u, while offering her scholarship from primary school to the tertiary level.
“I’ll have time to meet with the management of (Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital) and see what we can do here, to establish a paediatric section. And I want our own paediatric section at the (Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University) Teaching Hospital to be named Hawa’u ward”.
“This is just to make sure that this experience is given some indelible marks and of course we are going to put in keen interest in the growth and development of Hawa’u from the Ministry of Women Affairs”.
“We are taking over her responsibility of her education from primary to the tertiary level and I want us to discuss this even at the State Executive Council so that if I leave office, this good gesture will not diminish,” he promised.
The governor informed that the government has set up a small unit under the Commissioner of Police including the Security department at the Government House to rid the state of the black joints.
“All the black joints in the state are under watch, they are known by the security agencies. We have been complacent about it but today we are not.
“I want to assure the people of Bauchi that security is a major concern and this is part of security and that we will do everything to make them safe and secure not only from bandits, armed robbers and the rest but from cultists and all those obnoxious people,” he assured.
He charged Hauwa’u’s parents not to allow be alone or to be sent on errands or to be out of school promising that the government will watch her development because she may have complications and “any complications that arise later we are going to take care of them.”
Speaking earlier, the Commissioner of Health in the state, Dr. Aliyu Maigoro, told the governor that Hauwa’u underwent three corrective surgeries and was discharged after spending 65 days in the hospital.
He said: “Since 3rd of January, Hauwa’u has undergone almost three stage surgeries from the debridement of wound to perennial reconstruction surgery where the whole of the perennial was repaired as well as skin grafting”.
“The team of surgeons including paediatric surgeons, gynecologists, plastic surgeons and urologists attended to this patient moving from gynaecology ward to urology ward and finally to the paediatric wards”.
“On Tuesday 6th of April she was discharged because she had fully recovered with no sign of infections or complications. Her skin grafting was very good with no rejection, no scaring, no hypertrophy scar, it was a very successful surgery”.
Maigoro stated that the Ministry of Health, would be handing her over to the Ministry of Women Affairs for her social support and for social integration into the society.
DISCLAIMER
The OPINION / COLUMN is authored by independent contributors to the National Accord Newspaper. While contributors adhere to our editorial guidelines, they are not employed by the National Accord Newspaper. The perspectives and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of the National Accord Newspaper or its staff.