Mr Peter Obi, Anambra State Governor,
yesterday bagged the best performing governor on the eradication of polio in
the southeast from Bill Gates and Melinda Foundation at a massively attended
ceremony at the Women’s Development Centre in Awka.
Speaking while presenting the award
to Gov Obi which went with a cash prize of N120 million, the minister of state
for health, Dr Mohammed Pate said the award was not by chance as Gov Obi had
distinguished himself in the health sector which he observed had resulted in
the provision of ambulances to hospitals, accreditation of schools of midwifery
and the wonderful partnership with the Church and described the Anambra example
as a total package, noting that the state had remained polio-free in the past
five years.
Responding, Gov Obi thanked the
minister for coming to the state to present the award on behalf of Bill Gates
and Melinda Foundation and noted with satisfaction that it was not one of the
awards anyone could suspect as having been bought and said the state government
would match the N120m it received with another N180m which would be ploughed
into the building of ten more health centres in the state.
Recalling some of his strides in the
health sector, the governor cited the state’s first teaching hospital as an
example.
‘‘What happened was that the
government of the day admitted medical students without a medical school in
place and the assessors said they would not accredit the university but I
pleaded with them when I came in to give me two or three years to put a
teaching hospital in place. But they could not believe me as they thought it
impossible that a teaching hospital could be built in two, three years. It was
one of them that pleaded with them to give me a chance and they did. When they
returned at the appointed time they were shocked to see the teaching hospital
in place. It has since become the fastest teaching hospital to be built in
Nigeria,’ Obi stated to the applause of the packed audience.
In a similar development the governor
has splashed N60m on the final batch of 5000 youths under the Anambra
State Youth Empowerment Programme (ANSYREP). While handing over the cheques of
N100, 000 to each of the successful candidates, Gov Obi charged them to use
their money judiciously in order to justify the state government’s faith in
them, even as he charged them to shun thuggery in the forth coming elections in
the state.
He expressed satisfaction with the
fruitful results already being yielded by the programme and restated his
government’s readiness to continue to support the youths.
In his speech the coordinator of the
programme, Dr Okey Ikechukwu, commended the governor for accepting to support
the programme and disclosed that the governor did not submit any list of
candidates to them but had told them to ensure the programme worked. He noted
with satisfaction that many of the beneficiaries had made a success of the
money and training given to them.
The two events were attended by top
government functionaries, traditional rulers, student nurses and stake holders
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