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Wike Infuses Health, Banigo Affirms
The Rivers State Deputy Governor, Dr. Ipalibo Harry Banigo says the State Chief Executive, Chief Nyesom Wike was not only health-friendly but infuses health.
Banigo stated this while playing host to a delegation of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) at the Government House in Port Harcourt, yesterday.
Banigo said, “We did not need to have a deputy governor as a medical doctor to prompt him to action, he by himself infuses health, he believes, thinks and acts health in all that he does”.
According to the deputy governor, “There are two areas he does not joke with, one is health and the other is education and of course social sectors like security so we are very lucky in Rivers State to have him as our governor”, she stressed.
Banigo, who disclosed that the College of Medical Sciences was the brain child of the governor, said when Governor Wike came onboard, he insisted that the Rivers State University deserves to have a medical college because we have the manpower and Port Harcourt is very cosmopolitan, with a large population, which necessitated the need for us to train our medical personnel, and he did not stop until it came to fruition.
“We have employed so many professors and lecturers, so we are set to take the first intakes this year, and get the medical school running”, Banigo added.
The deputy governor, who insisted that there was no other hospital like the Rivers State Mother and Child Hospital in the South-South geopolitical zone, said it has 258-bed spaces, 50 delivery rooms, and was fully equipped with the state-of-the-art medical equipment, noting that it was a masterpiece.
Banigo said, “We did not stop at tertiary hospitals our secondary and primary health services are top notch, our Zonal Hospital in Bori, Degema and Etche would be ready for commissioning early next year”.
She said the general hospitals were being re-equipped, re-designed and some are being rebuilt to make sure they render services to our people.
Banigo, who expressed the need for doctors to be self-motivated, said, “You signed up to be a doctor, for medical ethics, so, let us motivate ourselves to show that we believe in this profession.
“Let us encourage ourselves as doctors across board especially those of us who are on clinical services, develop that self-motivation and work as if your life depends on it and let the community you are serving be the ones to judge us.”
Earlier, the National President of the Nigerian Medical Association, Prof. Innocent Ujah, who said he was in the state to inaugurate the new leadership of the NMA, had disclosed that the transformation of the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital was phenomenal, and thanked the state government for employing more professors and lecturers into the system.
Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.