Gloria Ikegbule

For the 11 communities in Odeda Local Government Area of Ogun State, Wednesday, May 15, 2019, was a great day.

It was the day the Latter-Day Saints Charities (LDS), the humanitarian arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, donated medical equipment to the renovated clinic serving the communities in Kugba Ajagbe.

The organisation also built a modern toilet in place of the one that was destroyed in 2016.

Members of the communities came in large numbers to the inauguration of the renovated Kugba Ajagbe Primary Health Clinic and the modern toilet. And the church came with hospital equipment for the new hospital.

The equipment donated by LDS to improve health delivery within the communities included four hospital beds, four mattresses, a baby cot, a modern delivery bed, delivery kit, a malaria test kit, a HIV test kit, a pedal suction machine, a trolley and a screen.

Mr. Chidi Ibeakuzie, the area welfare specialist of the church, said the leaders in Kugba and Ajagbe communities had complained through a letter of the worrisome state of the community health centre, requested the LDS to help with the renovation of the Kugba Ajagbe Primary Health Clinic.

It was gathered that the LDS team, led by Ibeakuzie, came for a facility inspection in 2018, and it was discovered that the clinic was not only in a shambles, there was a need to also build a toilet and bathroom for the clinic as the only one there was bad. They commenced the projects in April 2019 and completed it this month.

Ibeakuzie, who said he was particularly passionate about rural women, said that passion led to the provision of birth equipment to the clinic. He expressed appreciation to the communities for their cooperation, adding that the people’s willingness to support the projects with manpower where necessary made the completion possible.

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Said he: “This humanitarian gesture to the people in this local government is not for political reasons or for the people to come to our church. Our motivation is, ‘If Jesus Christ was here, what would he do?’ As such, we try our best to better the communities where we find ourselves.

“There is the problem of water here. We are working on building a borehole that will not just serve the clinic but also the communities.”

Mrs. Mofoluke Soremekun, chairman of Ilugun Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Odeda Local Government Area, Ogun State, could not hide her excitement and surprise at the gesture. She told journalists that when she received a letter from the church expressing interest in renovating the collapsed building, she thought the job would be shabbily executed.

She thanked the church and the LDS for their impressive work, even as she implored the residents to take care of the treasures handed to them.

“I rate them as a community-friendly church. They make one remember the impact of the missionaries in the olden days,” she said.

Chief Rafiu Animasaun, Baale of Ajagbe, was also excited at the renovated facilities. He pleaded that the organisation should assist the community with the provision of electricity and water, noting that the people still went to the stream to fetch water. He also said the community had not had power in the last two years due to a faulty transformer.

Mr. Ekemode Olurotimi, head of administration for Odeda Local Government Area, expressed appreciation to the church for its support. He promised on behalf of the LCDA to put the facilities and equipment to good use. He also stated that the council had plans to provide water drums for the clinic while waiting for the borehole promised by the church.

One of those who praised the church for the gifts was Mrs. Mary Moses, a nursing mother. In her words, everything in the old clinic was bad. She said the medical personnel in the clinic had been managing to care for nursing mothers with the dilapidated hospital equipment. She said a patient undergoing treatment might get infected again with malaria from mosquito bites owing to the torn clinic nets.   

Mr. Ebenezer Ogundele, stake president of Abeokuta Nigeria Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, expressed satisfaction with the acceptance of the projects by the communities. In his words, enriching lives through humanitarian service was what the church has always been known for, stressing that the church has done similar projects in other parts of Ogun State this year.