Statement
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan at the weekend commissioned a 120-bed capacity Mother and Child Hospital named after President Muhammadu Buhari.
The health facility which was facilitated by the Senate President was constructed by the Federal government through the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals(OSSAP-SDGs) and located in Gashua, Yobe North Senatorial District of Yobe State.
A Skills Acquisition Center constructed by OSSAP-SDGs and donated to Umar Suleiman College of Education, Gashua was also commissioned at the weekend by the Senate President.
The College Authourities decided to name the center as Senator Ahmad Lawan Center for Entrepreneurship.
Speaking at the Commissioning of the Mother and Child Hospital on Saturday, the Senate President described the event as epoch making.
“Today marks another very important epoch making event, a very positive historical development for us in this part of Nigeria.
“Today as we are all gather here, we have come to officially commission the Mother and Child Hospital and it is my privilege to name this very important Mother and Child Hospital in Gashua as Muhammadu Buhari Mother and Child Hospital, Gashua because President Muhammadu Buhari has made very positive difference in the lives of people of this particular Senatorial District and Yobe State in general.
“We have never had a very good attention from the Federal government like this time around and therefore this is the least we can do to remember President Muhammadu Buhari and we are trying to do more and more to keep him, his name and legacies in our mind for as long as we live.
“This hospital is one of many that the SDG and indeed the Federal government of Nigeria is building across the country. This is because of the belief of this administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari for providing special facilities like this on health particularly for the welfare and wellbeing of our people.
“This is Mother and Child Hospital and therefore the focus is to reduce the mortality rate in child birth and other things that are related.
“So this hospital, from the moment it will start operation hopefully from today, will be one hospital that we hope will provide all the opportunities for all the facilities here, state of the earth facilities, to take care of our mothers and children in this part of Nigeria.
“It is located in Gashua of course, but the services that it will provide will be available to people across the state particularly and I believe even up to Jigawa State our neighbour here.
“This is in keeping with our belief that when we represent our people, we must always remember to represent there needs and health facility is one of the needs of our people.
“Let me at this point say that what we do here is just to complement what Yobe State government has been doing. We have had legacy projects from past administration led by Governor Ibrahim Geidam. He did quite well. Our Hospitals were rehabilitated and now completed by Governor Mai Mala Buni.
“Therefore what we do is to provide some kind of support to what our state Governor has been doing and I am sure that this partnership is very essential, that all levels of government should be aiming at providing succor and reliefs to lives of the people it governs.
“I congratulate Yobe State Government for doing so much in the areas of health and I want to assure Yobe State Government that those of us who represent you at the national level, National Assembly particularly, we are going to remain focused in ensuring that we also attract facilities like this to make what our State Government is doing to have maximum and total impact in a very positive way in the lives of our people,” Lawan said.
The Senate President charged his people to take ownership of the facility by providing adequate watch and monitoring of the health facility and keep eyes on those manning the place to ensure that the right things are being done there.
“I want to assure the community and that on my part, I will continue to play the role of monitor even when I leave office.
“Like Oliver Twist, I want to thank the OSSAP-SDGs for giving us this and for what you are doing in Damaturu. But we wouldn’t mind to get more after Damaturu. Maybe in Potiskum and the other part of the state like Geidam. If we can get more budget, we will appreciate but on the whole and I want to say that what you have done will have very positive impact in the lives of our people here in Yobe North and in Yobe State generally and indeed the country,” Lawan said.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Susteanable Development Goals, Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire said the health facility was just one of the many that had been been built or were being constructed across the country.
At the Skills Acquisition Center, Lawan said it was a testimony to the Buhari government to provide opportunity for the youth to be self reliant and live a decent life.
“As an administration, President Muhammadu Buhari believes that our teaming youth particularly should be self reliant, they should be given the required skills to ensure that they live a very decent life and this Skills Acquisition Center is a testimony to that fact.
“This is now donated to Umar Suleiman College of Education and their Department of Entrepreneurship Development will be in charge. We expect that students of this Institution who will like to acquire some practical skills will benefit from training they will get here.
“We also believe that students from elsewhere outside of this Institution will also be beneficiaries but we expect that this Institution, this centre should be able to provide certificate courses to our youths who may not necessarily be students in the college or indeed in anywhere and I have already approved that the SAIL Foundation, which is my foundation, will work with this Centre and the college authourities to ensure that we get some of our youths to be trained and be given some kind of start-up for them to earn a very decent living.
“So I believe that this is going to make a very positive and progressive impact in the lives of the people of this part of this country,” Lawan said.
The Senate President expressed his gratitude and that of his people in gratitude of the people in Yobe North to “our very hard working, patriotic President who believes that Nigeria must be better and I want to also commend the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on the Sustainable Development Goals(SDG) particularly the Senior Special Assistant herself for ensuring that the completion of this Centre was done in a very good time and today it is a very good day for us and indeed the people of Yobe North are very grateful.”
▪︎ By Ola Awoniyi, Special Adviser(Media) to President of Senate
