Every month LHAAT members in Soba Local Government Area, Kaduna State, visit primary health centres to check how services are delivered and where the gaps are. On 21 July 2026 they took what they had found to the Vice Chairman of the local government, Hon. Muhammad Garba.
Five issues on the table
The team raised a shortage of nurses and midwives in several PHCs; the frequent transfer of newly recruited health workers out of the area, which keeps the gaps open; weak solar power in some facilities, which puts vaccine storage at risk in the evenings; low antenatal attendance among women in rural communities, for which the team suggested small incentives; and too little ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) for malnourished children, whose families often cannot afford adequate nutrition even when they know what to cook.
The Vice Chairman’s response
The Vice Chairman commended the team’s community-based monitoring. He assured them that the local government would work towards making RUTF available in health facilities, and explained that recruitment is held back by the small number of qualified applicants. He pledged to intensify supportive supervision across PHCs to improve staff attendance and accountability, and committed to supporting the distribution of long-lasting insecticidal nets, with a strategy to ensure that every pregnant woman attending antenatal care receives one.
A village head takes the message home
On 17 August the team visited the Village Head of Matari in Maigana Ward to ask for his help in mobilising residents around routine immunisation, treated nets and support for the local PHC. He encouraged the team to “keep the ball rolling” and committed to raising awareness on vaccines and nets. He also made a point the team has heard elsewhere: communities should take more responsibility for supporting their PHCs rather than waiting for government to meet every need.
Based on reports by the Soba LGA LHAAT and citizen journalist Sulaiman Yusuf (July and August 2026). The commitments recorded here are verbal; ICSA’s accountability tracker will record when they are met.
