Anambra State governor, Mr. Peter Obi, yesterday bagged the best
performing governor award on the eradication of polio in the southeast
from Bill Gates and Melinda Foundation.
The massively attended ceremony took place at the Women Development Centre in Awka. Speaking while presenting the award to Gov Obi, the minister of state for health, Dr Mohammad Bate said the governor was eminently qualified to earn the award because he distinguished himself in the health sector.
The minister observed such untiring effort had resulted in the provision of ambulances to hospitals, accreditation of schools of midwifery and the wonderful partnership with the Church, describing the Anambra example as a total package. The minister also noted that the state had remained polio-free in the past five years. The award went with a cash prize of N120 million.
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, adding that the state government would add the award money (N120m) to another N180m to build10 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 narrated to a thunderous applause. In a similar development, the governor gave out N60m to 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 the seed money judiciously in order to justify the state government’s faith in them, even as he charged them to shun thuggery in the forthcoming elections in the state. He expressed satisfaction with the results of 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 success of the money and training given to them.
A member of the state’s legislature, Hon Nikky Ugochukwu, congratulated the governor on his award and said it was expected, given his unprecedented achievements in office and commended him for his youth-friendly disposition.
The massively attended ceremony took place at the Women Development Centre in Awka. Speaking while presenting the award to Gov Obi, the minister of state for health, Dr Mohammad Bate said the governor was eminently qualified to earn the award because he distinguished himself in the health sector.
The minister observed such untiring effort had resulted in the provision of ambulances to hospitals, accreditation of schools of midwifery and the wonderful partnership with the Church, describing the Anambra example as a total package. The minister also noted that the state had remained polio-free in the past five years. The award went with a cash prize of N120 million.
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, adding that the state government would add the award money (N120m) to another N180m to build10 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 narrated to a thunderous applause. In a similar development, the governor gave out N60m to 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 the seed money judiciously in order to justify the state government’s faith in them, even as he charged them to shun thuggery in the forthcoming elections in the state. He expressed satisfaction with the results of 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 success of the money and training given to them.
A member of the state’s legislature, Hon Nikky Ugochukwu, congratulated the governor on his award and said it was expected, given his unprecedented achievements in office and commended him for his youth-friendly disposition.
No comments:
Post a Comment