Kingsley Ugochukwu was asleep sometime in March 2023 when his phone rang. It was 2 a.m., and the female voice on the other end of the call asked him to come to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital in Gwagwalada, where his pregnant wife was admitted.
The doctors needed his consent for a major medical procedure. However, Mr Ugochukwu could not make the 44-kilometre journey to the hospital because he had no means of transporting himself there that night. Also, security challenges in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) make such a journey risky, even if he had a private vehicle.
“That very day, I thought, ‘anything can happen’. Even the doctor called me to come; I told him I could not because it is very far,” Mr Ugochukwu told PREMIUM TIMES in an interview at his shop where he sells phone accessories in Kapuwa, Lugbe, a satellite town along the Umar Yar’Adua Expressway, also called Airport Road, in Abuja.
Mrs Ugochukwu would not have needed to be taken to Gwagwalada if a secondary healthcare facility was close to where the family lives in Lugbe. She started bleeding late in her second trimester. At the nearest primary healthcare facility, the bleeding did not stop. She was advised to seek care at a general hospital 29.1 kilometres away in Kuje Area Council.
“At the AMAC hospital, they could not stop the blood flow,” her husband recalled. “They even asked me to sign a paper to remove the baby under six months — a 50/50 chance, they said, but my mind did not accept the instruction from the doctor. I said no, I am not interested. Then, I took my wife to Kuje General Hospital, but they directed us to Gwagwalada, where she stayed for three weeks. Since then, I use Gwagwalada – myself, my children, and my wife,” Mr Ugochukwu said.
“I did not enjoy the service at the AMAC hospital, even Kuje. Despite the availability of doctors, I did not enjoy the service. The way they treated people, I did not like it. Later, one doctor advised us to go to Gwagwalada.”
To access healthcare services, Mr Ugochukwu and his family travel to Gwagwalada and endure long queues before seeing a doctor. For him, they do not have a better option. When asked what he would do in an emergency at night again, he responded, “I don’t know what I am going to do.”
Many in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, can relate to Mr Ugochukwu’s story, particularly those living in the satellite towns. They travel long distances to access care due to insufficient secondary healthcare facilities in the territory.
The FCT is expanding faster than the government can provide social amenities. According to data from the National Population Commission, Abuja’s population as of 2007 was 1.48 million. The estimated figure as of 2022 was above three million people, which means the population has more than doubled in the last 17 years.
The population growth rate and rapid urbanisation demand considerable investments in infrastructure like healthcare facilities, roads, schools, and other essential services.
As the cost of land and housing rises in the municipal area, residents are moving to the satellite towns, particularly along the Umar Musa Yar’Adua Expressway, in search of affordable accommodation. The axis has grown exponentially in the last few years, with gated estates dotting the landscape. Places like Lugbe, Aco, Gosa, Sabo Lugbe, Kichingoro, and Karamajiji now have more people living in them.
However, patients living in those areas who cannot pay out-of-pocket for care at privately owned clinics must make the long journey to Wuse, Asokoro, Maitama, Kuje, and other public secondary healthcare facilities.