Tell Magazine

Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State has achieved unprecedented success in health care since he took office in February 2009. His state was adjudged by the World Bank as having the worst indices in terms of maternal and child care when he took oath of office. However, the hardworking medical practitioner-turned politician has begun reversing the trend and he is fast turning his state into a haven for pregnant women and children under five years. Sitting in his simple but detailed office inside the State Secretariat in Akure, Mimiko speaks about his passion and hopes for expanding the pilot projects of the Abiye (Safe Motherhood) and Mother and Child Hospital that have become important icons for the success of his…

The government of Olusegun Mimiko is leading an ambitious plan to turn Ondo State into a medical haven for pregnant women and children   Until recently, Ondo State bore the World Bank’s tag of having the worst indices in terms of healthcare in Nigeria. One woman died every 16 minutes during childbirth and one in 10 children died before their first birthday. When women die, households are thrown into mourning, children are scattered around to live with relatives and families’ poverty levels increase. The strain on the society at large is also unquantifiable, as those children become tomorrow’s street urchins and prostitutes.   When Olusegun Mimiko became governor of the state after a prolonged electoral battle in 2009, how to…