Child spacing would reduce insecurity, promote good health and healthy society – Hanatu

Mrs  Hanatu Ababakar
is the Maternal and Child Health Coordinator Bauchi State Primary Health Care
Development Agency (BSPCDA) in this interview with ALI GALADMA she talks about
benefits of child spacing to communities, advocate for more women roles in
politics, office work and early management of insecurity.

As a mother how do
feel about the current insecurity situation in Nigeria?

The security situation is too bad. Honestly, we all know
that there is issue of insecurity but there are so many things we need to do to
take care of all these problems of insecurity issues and you know security is
everybody business.

As a mother I am not happy because any time I am going out
of the house I think of what may likely happen on my way to the office or while
going back home anything can happen. There are issues but is our collective
responsibility and if the women are involve we can contribute to the security
issue that we can advise, we can also discuss with the people in our
communities because a woman at home she knows how to handle this issues at
home. For example, if in my area I have this redundant boys, people don’t have
work to do they stay idle and they want to leave a positive life, laughvely
life if we can get a chance to help we will help this our young ones by
engaging them in doing one thing or the other this issues of insecurity would
reduce drastically.

Does that means that
you are suggesting people should practice family planing and child birth
spacing?

Yes, but this children we are having them already. We have
them nothing we can do about it, they are already here, the next thing I to
look around and see how we can help them engage them to be productive citizens
to be responsible citizens.

Child birth spacing is very very important because it would
help you space your children, it would help you cater for the ones that you
have, both their health, their discipline,their education and whatever you need
to do so. Apart from that is also good for the mother is also good for the
family, family planning is talking about when you want the pregnancy by choice
and not by chance and if you became pregnant by choice it means you really want
this pregnancy and you are ready to take care of the pregnancy and you are
ready to take care of the baby afterbirth. If a woman is giving that
opportunity to play her role as a member of the family not as a dependent
because when I say a dependent your perception you just marry her you keep her
at home and she folds up her hands, she is looking for the husband to bring in
everything, she did contribute because she is not productive but if a woman is
productive  she can contribute. If the
husband collect his salary he will pay school fees and she will take care of
other small small issues and if they have a managible size family that is when
she she space her family to a few number that they can take care not the number
that they don’t have a space to sleep in their house, you have to ask your
neighbor please if you have space two or three of my children would go and
sleep in your house and that is one of the things that bring about discipline,
insecurity and things like that in our society because we delivered so many
children that we cannot take care. And you know child birth spacing also
improved the health of the mother and if the mother is well the family is well,
if the family is well the society is also well.

What are some of the
strategies put in place to ensure women get more access to family planning and
child spacing?

For us we work with everybody, we engaged the traditional
institutions, community leaders, religion leaders and all the stakeholders. We
sensitize them on the importance of family planning and the benefits of child
spacing. Thank God They appreciate it and they have seen reason in that
sensitization and everybody now understood that yes child spacing is important
is beneficial to the family, is beneficial to the society. That is how we were
able to preached the gospel of child spacing, the husband, the wife, the mother
inlaw and everybody is aware of these child spacing is not a new thing. It has
been practice long, long time ago. Our grand grand parents practice child
spacing how do they do it depends on where you come from when a woman delivered
she breast feed for good twenty four months, others abstained  from the husband while some go back to her
parents house to stay until that child have reach some certain stage that another
pregnancy would not affect him, it has been practice in this way we have other
things, cultural ways of doing child birth spacing I don’t know now why people
think child spacing is bad.

What roles do you
thing women can play better especially in area of maternal health and mobility?

As we all know the international women day is been
celebrated all over the world not only o. Nigeria and this celebration is a way
of reminding every one that women need to be supported women have an important
role to play in the society and I you give the woman an equal 0lopportunity or
chance to grow she will grow and support her community, her family and the
world at large. So international women day is celebrated every year to remind
us that yes women every where should be recognised and supported, as we know
that the theme for this year women days 
each for equal that is we want an enable world and equal opportunity
women should be given the chance also to give out their contribution to their
community, you cannot just deprived a woman opportunity because of she is a
woman. What a man can do a woman can equally do that and look if we look around
us that women are participating in every thing, if she is determine she can do
it and it has play a great roles in our today’s involvement because women are
aware now that the need to go out and explore that opportunity that God has
giving them, that talent be it physical or whatever they use their brain to
mingle with the society whether with the men she can be a managing director,
she can be pilot, she can be an engineer, she can be in whatever space a woman
can find herself if she is determine she can do it. Woman should be every where
whether politics whether economic growth of the country. If they have that
opportunity to give out their contribution they will do well in that field so
even in the politics they say politics is a game of number but sometimes women
are being used during campaign at the end you find out that were  not given any position any opportunity to
give their contribution for development of their community, state or LGA if
they given that opportunity to do so they will do well because woman is a
mother, even in animals you can see how mothers care for their children not to
talk of human being. A woman can take care of her neighbors take care of her
community and any where she find herself she is very supportive

Are you talking of
voting, because most women don’t like viying for political positions?

As I have said earlier is not only voting so many times
women go out to show their interest via for position the also contest, they
also want to give their contribution but at the end you find out that they are
been manipulated the mens wants to take it all, they don’t want to give a space
to the women they only think that women space is in the kitchen, they only
think that is their tune in perception that the women place is at home but is
not like that this is only happening in our string here here in Nigeria in most
of the northern part of Nigeria women are not being supported. Our religions
our cultures doesn’t stop a woman from giving her contribution to her society
in whatever capacity. We want equal opportunity the Constitution of Nigeria is
saying we should give women 35% of whatever is happening whether is office
position, political positions whatever but the 30% is not there look at
Assemblies is there fair representation.

Politics is a game of
give and take, was there a deal before?

No. That is the constitution of Nigeria  and we are working with constitution. The
constitution said that 35% affirmative action should be given to women the men
always believe they can do it better, she is woman, she should go back to the
kitchen, she should be in the other room but what we are advocating now women
should be given an opportunity to contribute to the development of their
society.