By Chikezie Ogbonna
Dr. Sunny Eze is one young individual who has indefatigably blazed the trail as a patriotic Nigerian.
Fondly called Doctor Limitless by his friends and close associates, Victor Sunday Eze an Indigene of Enugu State from Eha-Alumona, Nsukka Local Government Area on 11th February 2021 was honored by President Muhammadu Buahri at the state house for distinguishing himself as an exceptional corps member during the compulsory one year National Youth Service Corps.
He was further hosted and honored by the Enugu State Governor at the Government House on 19th February with other awardees. Dr. Victor Sunday Eze who is also the health columnist of The Choice Flame Newspaper in this exclusive interview shared with us his experience embarking on the numerous projects and philanthropic gestures he was involved under one year of serving his nation.
How does it feel being honoured by The President and your Governor?
I feel overwhelmed by what synergy and team work could produce. You know, when you look at it, you just see one person who has won the Presidential honours award and even the overall best in the country. But the truth is that behind him were a people who didn’t sleep in order to make sure he came out fine. On the whole event, Well, I will say the first feeling for me was that of surprise. I had expected something very low key but was perplexed by the audience it has generated. All in all, I feel grateful to God and to the people of good will for finding time to celebrate me.
Where did you serve?
I did my National youth service in Jigawa State.
Where was your Place of Primary Assignment?
It was in a Primary Health Center.
What project did you embark on?
My projects spanned through Hospital based needs, community based needs and Research. It was termed “10 Point Project”. They included the following:
- Establishment of operating Theatre for Miga Primary Health Facility, Jigawa State.
- Establishment of Sterilization Unit for the facility.
- Provision of 4 Oxygen Cylinders.
- Free HIV test for 1,000 pregnant women within the local government.
- Free Blood Pressure check for 500 people and Free Blood Sugar check for 500 people. This was necessitated by the high number of Stroke Patient presenting to the health Center. The intervention greatly reduced the number of people coming down with the disease.
- Organized Awareness Program on Sickle Cell Disease and carried out free Genotype test for 100 people within the community and Secondary schools.
- Carried out a research on Knowledge of Pregnant Women on HIV and Willingness to Test. The finding of the result was submitted to Jigawa State Ministry of Health for Health planning.
- Organized Awareness on Dangers of Drug Abuse to the youths within the local government. This was done in collaboration with staff from NDLEA.
- Organized Health enlightenment on common diseases and their prevention in the community and also on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) DUTSE.
- Carried out safe school initiatives where he donated first Aid boxes to 3 schools and also thought them Cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
What inspired you to embark on those projects?
In a nutshell, it was the need that I observed within the hospital and community. For example, I noticed that a lot of the people were coming down with stroke. We could have two to three cases in one week. One of the major cause of Stroke in over 90% is uncontrolled Hypertension. With this in mind, we had to launch out community awareness and screening. With the intervention, the disease incidence came down significantly.
But to some extent, I will also say that I went to the north with a mindset to empty myself in serving. Before I left for youth service, I had an offer to stay back in Port Harcourt and do the youth service in a very cozy and well paying place. I declined and took the decision to leave my comfort zone. Having come this far to Jigawa, I made up my mind to give it my all.
Did you encounter any challenge on the execution of the project?
I encountered quite a lot of discouragement especially from close people. First of all, when you want to do something of this nature, there is a popular admonition: “don’t kill yourself for this country, it doesn’t deserve it”. Whether that is true or not is a subject for another day, but I was able to talk myself out of that by assuring myself that the interventions I was carrying out was going to help people. These people are someone’s mother, a wife, a father, or a child. I wasn’t looking at the face value “Nigeria”. We are all humans and belong to humanity. I just wanted to make a difference in people’s lives.
Another challenge was finance.
How did you get your sponsorship?
Firstly, in NYSC projects, one is not allowed to use his personal money or those of family to execute projects.
My sponsorship came from The local government (over 50%) , the political figures in the community like the member of House of Representative and House of Assembly, Philanthropists within the town.
Do you see yourself as one who is fulfilled by the successes recorded so far?
I will rather say that I feel grateful.
I believe success is a journey and not a destination. Maybe we just counted the first step.
There remains a sustained salient campaign to end NYSC following some challenges facing the scheme and participants, following what you have achieved; do you share in same sentiment?
Those who advocate for an end to national youth service might have their reasons but ultimately, I believe that NYSC has delivered significant positive impacts despite the challenges. For example, travelling to a different region and exploring their lifestyle and culture really clears some deep rooted prejudice and bias that we may have against one another. This is very necessary for national unity. Youth service also serves as a transition ground from school into the larger work environment. But of course there is always room for improvement. In this regard, I will rather advocate redressing whatever gap we find in the scheme as against scrapping it. The truth is that NYSC has ultimately been a blessing to the country.
What more are you looking forward to achieve with the successes you have recorded already?
I intend to expand on what I have done. My projects addressed a local problem within a community but it will be worthwhile to note that these problem cut across the entire federation and even Africa as a continent. So I look forward to partnering with individuals and organizations to expand and extend the projects especially to rural areas. I am passionate about ensuring that people living in rural areas enjoy comprehensive health care and other benefits that are seen in the urban settlements.
What will be your advice to young Nigerians beyond NYSC on adding value to the country through social responsible actions in their immediate environment?
My advice is for us all to realize that we can make a difference in people’s life and that we have all got something to offer. If you can put smile on the face of a nation, you can do so to the next door neighbor. Above all, put your trust in God. Continue to aim high, if you get knocked down, rise and keep fighting.
Comment here