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SEO-Optimized Story (May 24, 2025)

Ogun State Pregnant Women Risk Lives, Flee to Benin Republic as Nigeria’s Rural Healthcare System Collapses

By Segun Odunayo

Despite being just hours from Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, the rural community of Igbokofi in Ogun State has become a maternal death zone where pregnant women are forced to flee to neighbouring Benin Republic in search of basic healthcare.

For 38-year-old Folake Olaniyi, the memory of her 2017 stillbirth remains an open wound. After relocating to Igbokofi with her children following her husband’s disappearance, Folake expected to deliver her baby boy safely. But with no functioning healthcare centre in her village, she was shuffled from one unlicensed clinic to another across several villages, bleeding and in pain. By the time she reached a hospital capable of performing surgery, her baby had died, and complications left her womb permanently damaged.

“I nearly died,” she recalled. “My womb had to be removed after months of complications. That pain will stay with me forever.”

Folake’s story is not an isolated case. Igbokofi is littered with tragic tales of maternal deaths due to a collapsed healthcare system. In 2021, the wife of a young villager died in labour at a traditional healing home because no clinic was available nearby.

According to community elder Idowu Bamgbose, “We’ve lost too many women to childbirth. It’s a graveyard here. There’s no government hospital or trained medical staff. People either risk their lives with untrained birth attendants or travel miles in emergencies.”

Residents say the lack of a functioning health centre forces many to seek treatment in Benin Republic, just across the border. Ruth Bamgbose, the village chief’s wife, says Benin is now their closest option for medical care.

“Even for minor illnesses, we cross into Benin. It’s closer than Ijoun or Abeokuta,” she said. “But once they know we’re Nigerians, they double the prices of drugs and treatments.”

The health facility in Igbokofi, once a modest but functional clinic, collapsed in 2008 after its roof became infested with bats, making it uninhabitable. Drug supply stopped, staff stopped coming, and the building was abandoned.

Maternal healthcare in Nigeria remains in crisis. In 2020, over 80,000 Nigerian women died from pregnancy-related complications like haemorrhage and eclampsia. Nigeria has one doctor per 4,000–5,000 people—far below the WHO recommendation of 1 per 600. The country also allocates less than 10% of its budget to healthcare, falling short of the UN-recommended 15%.

A 2023 report by the Nigerian Primary Health Care Development Agency revealed that over 60% of rural Nigerians lack access to functional healthcare centres.

In Igbokofi, unlicensed practitioners now fill the gap. “They use unsterilised tools and risky methods,” said local youth Kunle Garb. “But we have no choice. Either you risk it or do nothing.”

The consequences are deadly.

“We’ve buried many pregnant women,” said Garb. “From Tosin Ayeni to Silifat Kudebi, they all died trying to give life. And until the government acts, the deaths will continue.”

Conclusion: The crisis in Igbokofi is a stark example of how Nigeria’s neglect of rural healthcare is fueling a preventable wave of maternal deaths. As expectant mothers are forced to flee across borders for basic care, the question remains: how many more lives must be lost before the government responds?