Residents of Yiadzo, a cocoa-farming community in the Kadjebi District of the Oti Region, are appealing to the government to provide essential social amenities to improve their living conditions.
The community, which has a population of slightly over 1,000 people, is predominantly made up of cocoa farmers who say poor road infrastructure is affecting the transportation and marketing of their produce.
The farmers say the deplorable state of roads linking the community to other parts of the district makes it difficult for cocoa purchasing companies to access the area and buy their produce.
Speaking to the media, Joshua Tangariba, a farmer, said residents sometimes had to transport their cocoa beans in smaller quantities to the main road because heavy-duty trucks struggled to access the community.
He added that residents sometimes undertook communal labour to make the roads passable and prevent post-harvest losses.
“If our road can be constructed for us, we believe this will also encourage us to even produce more,” he said.
Healthcare delivery is another major concern for residents, with the Yiadzo CHPS compound struggling to accommodate patients due to inadequate facilities.
A nurse at the facility, Cynthia Dedu, said the CHPS compound attended to an average of 20 to 30 patients daily but had only two beds for patient care.
“We have only two beds that we use to detain clients, and on average we have 20 to 30 clients in a day. And then detaining more than two clients is very difficult because we only have two beds,” she said.
She explained that the beds were also used to monitor pregnant women during labour because the facility had no dedicated labour ward.
“When there is any delivery, there is no lying-in ward. So the same two beds that we use to detain clients for OB/GYN services are the same ones that I use as a midwife to do monitoring for delivery,” she added.
She appealed for at least three or four additional beds to improve patient care and help health workers manage emergencies.
The Assembly Member for the Yiadzo Electoral Area, Rafiu Adam, said the accommodation available to health workers was also inadequate.
“Where our nurses sleep and what they work with is not the best. If we can get the project the community began completed, then the accommodation for them will be solved,” he said.
He also appealed for the construction of the community’s roads, describing them as important for transporting cocoa and other agricultural produce to market.
Meanwhile, the Kadjebi District Chief Executive, Dr Sam Issakka Suraj, said the District Assembly was considering taking over the completion of the nurses’ quarters in its next budget.
“What they are asking for now is the nurses’ quarters. They started. They themselves, the community, initiated the project. They started. So we’re looking at taking it up in our next budget,” he said.
He added that the Assembly would work towards completing the facility to provide accommodation for health workers serving the community.
