Metro

Nigerian Army conducts medical outreach in Nigeria-Cameroon border community

The Nigerian Army has conducted a free health outreach in Belegete, Obanliku Local Government Area of Cross River State, bordering Cameroon.

The Tribune Online gathered that the medical outreach was part of the military’s non-kinetic efforts in the communities to provide health services that include consultations, malaria, typhoid, blood sugar and blood pressure tests, and medicine distribution.

Belegete border area with Cameroon is one of the most difficult to access areas in Cross River, with hilly terrain, no access roads, no communication networks, and no electricity.

Brig. Gen. Muftau Ibrahim, Commander of the 13 Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Calabar, stated that the outreach was essential to offering medical services to the community’s residents.

Ibrahim also mentioned that the Nigerian Army was prepared to prevent rebel activities in the border communities between Nigeria and Cameroon, reassuring the residents in that area.

“In line with the Nigerian Army’s constitutional responsibilities of protecting lives and deterring violent aggression, troops of the 13th Brigade conducted a series of operations along the Nigerian-Cameroonian border.

“This is to check incursions into Nigerian territory; the Nigerian Army operations have successfully denied the rebels freedom of action, leading to an effective containment of the Ambazonia threat in Nigerian border communities in spite of its difficult topography,” he said.

During his speech, Mr. Simon Akor, the community leader, mentioned that pregnant women and sick individuals had died because they were unable to access medical care due to the challenging terrain.

Akor, appreciating the Nigerian army for carrying out the outreach in Belegete, said residents of the community have suffered seriously.

“When a woman is pregnant or someone is sick, he or she is carried by the villagers to climb the hill and valleys through the forest to get to town, where you can find a health facility. Most times, the patients die on the way.

“We are happy that for the first time, the Nigerian Army came here with good drugs and professionals to take care of our health and know how we are doing, especially as the community had been attacked in the past by Ambazonians.

“We don’t know who represents us in the Cross River House of Assembly, but we want to use this medium to appeal to the government that we need access roads, a telecommunications network, and a health facility,” he said.

Likewise, Mrs. Maria Olia, the Women Leader of the community, mentioned that while traditional birth attendants (TBA) are available to assist women in the community, there are difficulties in transporting them in cases of complications.

Mr. Aku Collins, a young person interviewed by the Tribune Online, mentioned that before the outreach programme, the community depended on unqualified medicine vendors who visited occasionally. He stated that despite their lack of professionalism, the residents had no other option but to use their services.

It turns out that it takes about six to eight hours to reach Belegete from Butatong, the last town before Belegete, through dense mountain rainforest.

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