By Mezie Akabudu

While the Fourth Engr Chris Azubogu Free Medical Outreach lasted, people found it difficult to believe that I was not on ground, owing to the way I was dishing out reports of daily activities. Some would call me to ask for what to do or how to go about certain things and I did direct them appropriately. To those who wondered how I was able to coordinate, report daily events and answer sundry questions during the outreach, the credit goes to our team leader, Tai Emeka Obasi, whose sterling leadership abilities made him able to assemble and coordinate one of the best online media teams, bringing events of the outreach on our doorsteps.

So, when I got into Ozubulu yesterday and went to Olie-Akpu to pick a few things, I got into a discussion with my friend.

“Agu,” as I fondly call my friend, “ụnụ a na-egbu ozu season” (Agu you guys are enjoying your seasonal sales).

Agu responded, “Omekagụ,” as he would call me, “na ebee kwanu? We had our season sales in the first week of December.”

I didn’t really catch up, but my friend quickly added, “Mezie,” (Whenever he uses my first name, Agụ is emphasising seriousness and or frankness.) “for the past thirty years I’ve been here, I have never made sales like I did for the eight days that the Azubogu’s outreach lasted. And I wasn’t alone.”

Agụ went on to narrate how Olie-Akpu literally became a daily market within those eight days. Water of all packages, drinks of all brands, bean cake (akara) and all kinds of food vendors, had an unprecedented economic boom all through the eight days.

“What am I telling you? I had trouble replenishing stock from my suppliers every day to be able to meet demands. And every competitor around me was on same footing.”

Agu has a big store where he retails all kinds of drinks from water to brandy.

At this point I became an emergency journalist and my phone turned to a tape recorder. I went to interview my Oga who has an agency bank at Ugwu Olie.

“Mezie, you know that each time enwelụ ozu nwelụ address a ya-akwa na Ozubulu ayị egbuo ozu (each time there is a popular burial in Ozubulu we always make sufficient sales),” my Oga began. “But this one was non-stop selling for eight straight days. I had to employ ad-hoc staff to be able to cope. I have never seen a thing like that, from morning till night.”

After further details, I left my Oga for the people in the hospitality industry. I interviewed the manager of a hotel closest to the Joint Hospital. He explained they were not left out of the boom. Because Beverly Hills Hotel in Ozubulu/Nnewi was occupied by the team of doctors and other staff involved in the outreach, his hotel had their hands full with guests that came for treatment.

He explained further that this was necessitated because of the modus operandi of the outreach, whereby a patient may have come with results of medical tests and even scans done elsewhere, but the outreach team would discard the whole thing and start their own investigation all over. From physical examination to laboratory tests and possibly scans, they thoroughly reinvestigated. And in some cases these did take days as some test results may take more than 24 hours to be ready. Needless to mention cases of Surgeries.

Some of such patients who came from far away places, and even those from not very far places, decided to lodge in so as to be able to continue the next morning. These set were able to afford hotel rooms as both tests and treatments proper didn’t cost them a dime.

In the transport segment and restaurant business, the story was same. Even the operators of the cold room that was facilitated by the same Azubogu for the abatoir in Olie-Akpu had the same tale, as the butchers had to slaughter enough cows to keep them going from morning till night.

To the businessmen within Ugwu Oye and definitely those within the other three centres, whose line of businesses aligned to be in demand within those eight days, they would have naturally wished that the outreach never ended, and certainly would eagerly be looking forward to the next outreach coming up this year, 2021.

I clearly learnt from my journalistic exercise that Mr Project didn’t just save lives of the sick during the period, he also massively improved the economy of the healthy.

PreparedToServe

HelpIsComing

AuthenticMrProject

GovernorOfProjects

IfeanyichukwuNnewi

Happy New year to us all.