For Asiegbu Mmadubuko, a native of Akaeze village, Urum in Awka North LGA of Anambra State whose wife was delivered of triplets recently, his joy has been severely punctured. Rather than happiness, the family is writhing in deep agony.
Mr & Mrs Asiegbu Mmadubuko and their set of triplets
According to a revealing report on The Sun, a couple in Anambra - Asiegbu Mmadubuko and his wife Oluchuwkwu, recently welcomed a set of triplets and reportedly complained about how the state government didn’t assist them. They pleaded with the government for help, and the government has responded to their cries with a bag of rice, toiletries and N2,000 cash.
The triplet babies were delivered at a local birth attendant, and complications in delivery forced Asiegbu to take his wife to the Amaku General Hospital in Awka. Bills began to pile up as he began to borrow money after money, and decided to appeal to the state government for help with the situation.
He wrote a letter to the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, but failed to get any worthwhile response. Below is how Asiegbu narated the story to a correspondent.
"At a point, I wrote a letter to the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development humbly requesting for their assistance. I also attached pictures of all of us while in the hospital. But since that month of June to date, they did not respond.
My wife, knowing the condition she was passing through, complained that she and her new babies were feeding poorly. Truly she was right. I had to go back to the ministry to know what has been holding back my humble request for assistance but the commissioner wasn’t on seat.
The officials I met kept directing me from one office to another. When I went to Child Department, I didn’t see anybody but a corps member. She told me that the workers in that department did not come because their children were sick. She directed me to come back later without any specific date.
Later they directed me to another office, which also directed me back to Child Department. I waited a whole day without result and I had to go back home. Unfortunately, my first two children, a girl and a boy fell seriously sick due to malaria fever recently.
I was just returning from the chemist shop where I took them to get drugs and saw some people in my house. They said that it was Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development that sent them. They came with 1 bag of rice, 12 pieces of toilet tissue, 1 Dettol liquid, 1 packet of pears soap and 1 pears cream for children, and N2,000.
They said that I shouldn’t come back to the ministry again. They said the N2000 was for my sick children. I wrote that letter on 22nd June, 2015. It was just three days ago that these officials from the ministry came to my village. My wife would have died if not the assistance the village meeting rendered to us."
Meanwhile, Mmadubuko is still pleading with the public for assistance.