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COOPERATIVE SOCIAL EMERGENCY TRANSPORT POBIC

A Heart for Nigeria – Historic agreement signed with UCH Ibadan

There are milestones that do not arrive suddenly. They have the slow and stubborn rhythm of things that grow with care, step by step. And there are signatures that, when placed on paper, weigh like milestones in the history of a project. Today, March 17th, is one of those days.

The memorandum of understanding between POBIC and UCH Ibadan – Nigeria's most important university hospital – is now a reality. A five-year collaboration agreement in the field of pediatric cardiac surgery, signed in the presence of POBIC President Paolo Novellini, Dr. Festus Adedayo, and Nigerian health authorities Prof. Jesse Abiodun Otegbayo, Chief Medical Director of UCH, and Prof. Olubukola Adeponle Adesina, Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee. But this is not just news. It is the culmination of a story that began a long time ago.

The opening steps of a long journey

It all began in 2016, with the first POBIC missions in Nigeria. During those early, courageous expeditions, Italian medical teams left Italy to operate on children suffering from congenital heart disease in extremely difficult healthcare settings. These were exploratory missions, full of unknowns, but driven by a certainty: every child saved was worth the journey.

 

The University Teaching Hospital in Enugu was the first partner hospital. From there, over time, stable collaborations were born with facilities such as the Federal Medical Center in Yenagoa and the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital in Okolobiri. Operations, training, workshops, volunteers, departures, returns: the machine of solidarity has never stopped.

DISTANCE ADOPTION

The heart beyond the sea

When heart conditions were too complex to be treated in Nigeria, POBIC took charge of transferring the young patients to Italy, at the Gaslini Institute in Genoa. Thus, over the years, Michael, Yusuf, Jesse, Daniel, Treasure, Salim, Diane, Jed, Simon, Aleeson, and many others crossed the sea to receive a second chance.

 

 

The distance adoption program was created specifically to accompany them over time, guaranteeing not only medical care, but also educational continuity and family support. Because healing, after all, also means being able to grow.

A welcoming home, a sewing needle

Meanwhile, in Yenagoa, Casa POBIC was borna facility where assistance, protection, and training intertwine. Here, young women who are victims of violence or marginalization receive support, shelter, and above all, the tools to reclaim their lives. Among these, the most precious: autonomy.

 

The tailoring training project has become a symbol of redemption. Sewing, in this land, is not just a trade: it is art, dignity, independence. It is the thread used to stitch a new life back together.

The estimation of the institutions

All of this has attracted the attention of the Nigerian authorities. The Minister of Health wrote to the Italian Government, praising the work of POBIC and requesting that the project continue and be strengthened.

READ YEAR BY YEAR THE POBIC JOURNEY IN NIGERIA

 

The Governor of Bayelsa State has also officially recognized the value of the work carried out, defining the initiative as a virtuous example of cooperation between peoples.

The day we were waiting for

And here we are today. After years of fieldwork, POBIC has signed an agreement with UCH Ibadan, one of Nigeria's most prestigious hospitals.

 

It is not just a formal act: it is a mutual promise. A shared vision aimed at the creation of an operational, stable, and educational pediatric cardiac surgery unit, capable of restoring health and a future to hundreds of children.

 

A project that now has deeper roots and wider wings.

This signature does not close a chapter. It opens one. It is confirmation that every child saved so far has not been an isolated gesture, but part of a greater mission.
And today, that heart that beat strongly in Enugu, in Genoa, in Yenagoa, begins to beat in Ibadan as well.
The future has just begun.

THANKS TO YOUR SUPPORT

WE SAVE THE LIVES OF DOZENS OF CHILDREN EVERY YEAR. HELP US DO EVEN MORE.

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March 2025
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  • Marketer and professor of communication and marketing, sensitive to humanitarian and relief issues. I only write about what truly interests me, and POBIC's mission is of crucial importance.

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