The sole healthcare facility for the Zage-Zagi community and surrounding villages in Ikara LGA sits abandoned with no equipment, no staff, and no hope in sight. This only clinic in the area has been locked and abandoned for years, leaving thousands of residents with no access to basic healthcare.
The facility once served not just Zage-Zagi but also neighbouring villages and even some residents from Ikara town, the local government headquarters. Today, it stands silent; no equipment works, no staff report to duty, the doors are locked, and when contacted, the key holder claims to have traveled.
When Dawn Herald attempted to inspect the building, access was impossible. The person said to be holding the key was reportedly out of town. But residents who spoke with Dawn Herald confirmed what many already know: the clinic has no functional equipment left, and staff stopped coming to work years ago.
What the community leaders say
Malam Sani Haliru, the village head of Zage-Zagi, and Saminu Saidu, the youth leader, have both appealed to the government and relevant authorities to revive the clinic. Their message is simple: bring back the healthcare facility that once served this community and beyond.
For villagers in Zage-Zagi and surrounding areas, the closure means traveling long distances to access medical care. Pregnant women, sick children, and elderly residents must now go to Ikara or Janfalan towns, or even farther when emergencies strike. For many poor families, the transport cost alone makes healthcare unaffordable.
When Dawn Herald contacted the Local Government Primary Healthcare Authority for comment, officials acknowledged the situation. They said they are planning to send requests to the state ministry of health to refurnish dilapidated health facilities across the local government and possibly build new ones to cover the increased population. Planning to send requests, not “we have sent requests,” not “renovation has begun,” Just planning to request it.
This is the gap between rural and urban Nigeria in many states. While urban residents debate the quality of healthcare services, rural residents are debating whether healthcare exists at all.
The Zage-Zagi clinic story is not unique. Across Kaduna State and rural Nigeria, basic amenities like healthcare facilities, schools, clean water, and electricity remain concentrated in urban and semi-urban areas. Rural communities struggle with facilities that either never existed or have been abandoned.
When we talk about development in Nigeria, we often focus on cities. New hospitals in state capitals, and renovated schools in local government headquarters. But thousands of villages remain invisible in these conversations. They have no clinics, or their clinics have no equipment like the one in Dokan Rago in Kubau local government area, as reported by Dawn Herald some months back titled When A Clinic Becomes A Home: The Deepening Healthcare Crisis In Dokan Rago. In these rural communities, they have schools, but the schools have no roofs, they need water, but the boreholes are broken.
The irony is painful. Zage-Zagi’s clinic once served even people from Ikara town, the LGA capital. Now it cannot serve the village it was built for. This is not progress, this is a demotion as a result of total abandonment.
What needs to be done
First of all, the Kaduna State Ministry of Health should treat this as an emergency, not a request to be processed someday. A community without healthcare is a community at risk. People are dying from treatable conditions because the nearest clinic is locked.
Secondly, the Local Government Primary Healthcare Authority should provide a clear timeline. When will the request be sent? When will renovation begin? When will the clinic reopen? Vague promises without timelines are meaningless.
Thirdly, the state government should audit all primary healthcare facilities in rural areas. How many are functional? How many are abandoned? How many have equipment? How many have staff? Without this data, planning is impossible.
Lastly but not the least, rural healthcare funding should be prioritized over urban healthcare expansion. Cities already have multiple hospitals. Villages have one clinic, and even that one is often non-functional. Justice demands that resources flow where the need is greatest.
The people of Zage-Zagi are not asking for a world-class hospital. They are asking for the clinic they already have to work again. That is the minimum standard of governance, and right now, even that minimum is not being met.
The clinic remains locked, and the community continues waiting. However, how much longer?
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