A Bradford churchman is heading a project to build a youth centre in an African village in a bid to improve the people's health.

Pastor Derek Carver, who ministers to the Chellow Fellowship in Heaton, an offshoot of the Sunbridge Road Mission, flew to Lafia in central Nigeria with church member Jato Makama.

Mr Makama, 50, grew up in Lafia, and came to Britain 20 years ago to attend university.

Mr Carver said: "Jato had always wanted to give something back to the people he came from. When he was a young man in Nigeria he did some youth work and he knew there was nothing for the younger people there.

"Within two days of arriving we had met up with 50 ministers and pastors in the area who had been praying for someone to help them to do something for the children."

Medication is expensive in Nigeria and Mr Makama had already established a business selling medical supplies to Nigerian hospitals, ploughing the profits back into local communities to help to subsidise drug costs.

Mr Makama, 50, explained how important it was for him to be able to help the villages.

"The situation is really bad, the people die very young, there are no medical facilities, government hospitals aren't efficient and young people have no hope in life," he said.

"To me, it was my entire purpose of coming to Britain to study, to give back and put into force what I've learned over here.

"It's like achieving my dream. If I can contribute in one way or another to them it will be my achievement in my life."

One of the problems was distributing drugs to those in need, and the pair hit upon the idea of building a Christian youth centre in the village which could act as a distribution point for selling medicines to outlying communities.

Mr Carver, 49, said: "We identified a piece of land that was suitable. It has a six-foot wall all around it, all the scrub has been cleared and it's ready to start building.

"The pharmacy is very important. In the UK there's a doctor for every 667 people.

"But there is only one for every 67,000 people in Nigeria and the population in set to double in the next 25 years."

The youth centre will cost £6,000 to build, and Mr Carver's church has already donated £3,000 towards the cost of the project.

"I phoned home from Nigeria and the church said 'we've £3,000 for our own building project'. This money had come from private donations and we were keeping it aside for our own plans, but we decided that we weren't as desperate for a building as they were."

Mr Carver hopes that, once completed, the centre will be self-funding.

"In that area people are keen to use faxes and computers. If we can sell e-mail, fax and computer services to the town we hope to be able to make the centre self-sufficient," he said.