ABOUT ILOGBO TOWN

Ilogbo is a quiet community of about 10-15 thousand residents (both indigenous and non-indigenous people). Infrastructure is sparse and access to appreciable and modern medical care is almost impossible because there is no standard hospital in the community. Access to other recreational facilities, playgrounds, hotels and other facilities is extremely poor. The road system is almost non-existent and only accessible during the dry season: rainfalls during the wet season make access to this community very challenging.

The annual Harmattan is also a concern because with this season comes heavy wind that turns the soil into dust and causes serious health challenges for residents, consequently increasing their reliance, and therefore spending, on health matters.Harmattan is a season in the West African subcontinent, which occurs between the end of November and the middle of March. It is characterized by the dry and dusty northeastern trade wind, of the same name, which blows from the Sahara Desert over West Africa into the Gulf of Guinea.

Because of these changes in seasons, circumstances that breed attacks on infants are inevitable and thus infant mortality rates are high. The economic situation of the community affect affordability of relevant drugs medical bills.. The number of women and children in the community far exceeds the number of men, resulting in a significant need for maternity and pediatric health care.

Why Ilogbo

There are many communities in Nigeria in need of assistance in one form or another. Within the Ado-Odo Ota Local Government area alone there are hundreds of communities that wouldbenefit from better healthcare. Unfortunately, RichGrace must pick one community to focus our energy and concentrate our efforts on.

There was no special reason for selecting Ilogbo, other than that it is a community that visibly needs help and is a place where RichGrace's minimum investments can yield maximum impact. Ilogbo is also strategically located where three other communities can easily access. There are many other communities that would have benefitted from our assistance, but we chose Ilogbo.

Ilogbo community lies on the northwestern side of Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Areas of Ogun State. Ado-Odo Ota itself is an industrial area dedicated to industrial production which feed the neighboring Lagos and Ibadan (and of course the rest of Nigeria). In the 1970s through to the 1990s when the Nigerian economy began to take a serious downturn, there was a major convergence of industrial zones for the country. At its peak, this area was home to many industries including noodle, beverage factories, car and general manufacturing companies.

Due to the heavily industrial nature of the area, there was a high demand for labor, merchants, whole sellers, retailers and by-product vendors. This brought people from far and wide who were searching for employment and were prepared to provide services for these industrial activities.Consequently, many communities sprang up around this industrial zone to provide the required labor needs. City mapping, city planning and other basic amenities were not provided for these communities because they came up too quickly for the government to project and plan.

Now that most of these companies are no longer in operation, laborers are now without employment and has led to a general breakdown in the community. Ilogbo, our target community, falls in this local government area and is one of the communities that sprang up to feed the industrial area with human resources.In the past when men and women were gainfully employed, community needs were met through donations by community members. Since community-generated efforts are no longer feasible owing to the low income of the people living in the area, Ilogbo now requires external support to continue to function successfully.