Haiku Hiccup (Opening Epigraph):
Budget for healing,
spent on printing invitation—
clinics cough in dust.
---
Scene: Ministry of Health Annex, Office of Bureaucratic Oversight
Morning dew on the corridors, but no nurse has been paid in months.
The sun outside was brutal. But inside, the silence was worse. The air conditioning hummed not out of comfort, but conspiracy. Alakare adjusted his agbada, shuffled the weight of the brown file marked "Emergency Intervention: National Health Revamp Scheme (Since 2014)."
Across him sat the weary Director of Health Services, Dr. Maimuna Anjolaiya, eyes shadowed by folders of unpaid invoices.
"We have malaria drugs expiring in container. No clearance yet."
Alakare tapped his biro four times. He always tapped four times before speaking, a delay tactic even he didn't understand.
"Ehn, the problem be say... the procurement clearance is still in Process Flow 3B. After that, we'll move to Endorsement Routing 4C. Then maybe the Presidential Stamp Verification."
Dr. Anjolaiya stared.
"People are dying."
Alakare blinked as if it were the first time he'd heard the word.
---
Haiku Hiccup:
Prescription papers,
but no funds to buy aspirin—
clinic beds still dream.
---
Cutaway Scene:
Chibok Local Health Center. Nurse Ronke fans a baby with cardboard. There's no electricity. No gloves. She peeks into the storeroom. Only cobwebs answer.
"Mama Bola, e ma binu. Injection ti tan."
(Sorry Mama Bola, the injections are finished.)
"Aye mi," whispers the woman.
(Oh, my life.)
Outside, campaign posters peel off the wall. One reads:
"Vote Oyowo! Health is Wealth!"
---
Back in Abuja...
A messenger stumbles in, whispers to Alakare. He nods, stands with a self-important grunt.
"Ah, I need to attend the Interministerial Review of Sectoral Monitoring Templates. We'll revisit this next quarter. Maybe Q3."
"Q3?! That's September!"
"It's near. Time flies."
He leaves. The brown file remains. Like a tombstone on Dr. Anjolaiya's desk.
---
Flash Haiku:
File has more dust now,
than the village maternity—
paperwork has pulse.
---
Narrator's Sidebar in Yoruba-English Blend:
Ẹ̀yin ọrẹ, ẹ gba mi.
See as dem dey budget for bandage,
but wound no dey wait approval.
Na waiting be the essence of ministry
if all dem dey minister to na delay?
---
Final Scene:
Alasure appears on the NTA Evening News.
"We have just inaugurated a Post-Mortem Emergency Health Rescue Committee. We will ensure the future dead are not neglected like the past ones."
Behind him, Oyowo smiles and hands out face masks — branded with his campaign logo.
---
Final Haiku of Chapter 1:
Fever burns inside—
yet the only cold comfort
is budget in freeze.