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Wike Offers Healthcare Access To Poor, Vulnerable Nigerians
Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has said that the country must, as a priority, strengthen public health institutions because Nigerians who cannot afford medical treatment overseas don’t deserve to die.
The governor maintained that it was the primary responsibility of any government to ensure equitable access to basic healthcare for the citizens, especially the poor and most vulnerable in society, adding that with the investment by his government, healthcare has been made accessible to the poor and most vulnerable in the state.
Wike made the assertion after inspecting ongoing construction work at the multi-billion Naira Dr. Peter Odili Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Diagnostic and Treatment Centre; the Basic Clinical Sciences and Clinical Sciences, the Renal and Pathology Departments for the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, last Saturday.
The governor said the state government’s huge investment in the tertiary hospital and public health infrastructure was aimed at making the state the hub for medical tourism in the country.
Wike remarked that any government that recognises the centrality of public health and its critical role in nation building will, as a priority, strengthen public health institutions so that those who cannot afford to seek medical treatment overseas don’t die.
“How many people can afford travelling overseas? We have all it takes to improve on our health sector, to provide the necessary facilities. We have our doctors; all we need to do is training and retraining them. Look at Government House Hospital (Port Harcourt), look at how people troop in there, because the basic facilities are there and the doctors are willing, committed to work because of the environment they have found themselves.
“If you give our people the required environment and give them the facilities, the tools to work with, there is no need for us travelling to overseas. When people come to Government House Clinic, they look at the facilities and say is it not what we see overseas. So, we can replicate it here in Nigeria.”
The governor declared that government must make it a priority to provide incentives and creation of an enabling environment that can help ensure that doctors and other medical experts do their job well.
“So, my own motivation is that if I have opportunity to travel overseas, what about others who do not have the opportunity to travel overseas? Must they die simply because they don’t have opportunity? It is the obligation of government to make sure that our citizens are given the best in terms of protecting their lives. It is the responsibility of government to protect lives.
“So, for me, it is our responsibility, and so, we must do everything we can to see that we save the lives of our people by making sure that our healthcare delivery system is working, and the doctors are also given the best for them to work.”
Wike described the quality of work at the Dr. Peter Odili Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, as very satisfactory.
He disclosed that the contractor, Julius Berger, was working assiduously to meet the deadline for the completion the project.
He explained that the ongoing construction work at the Basic Clinical Sciences and Clinical Sciences; Renal and Pathology Departments buildings were required to make the Rivers State University a full-fledged teaching hospital.
He further said the state government was not owing the contractors handling the Renal Centre, Pathology Department, Basic Clinical Sciences or the Clinical Sciences buildings of the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital.
He charged the institution to ensure that all the contractors work towards the completion of the project by May, 2022.
“We have spent so much money in the health sector, and we believe that our people at the end of the day will appreciate what we have been able to commit to health. For us, giving Rivers people the best has always been our priority. All I pray is that the contractors should meet up the time”, Wike added.
Nigerians may experience an increase in the prices of premium energy products diesel and petrol as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery temporarily halts the sale of petroleum products in Naira.
“This decision is necessary to avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in US dollars,” the company said in a statement yesterday.
The $20billion refinery based in Lagos said the sales of its products in Naira have exceeded the value of Naira-denominated crude it has received from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
“As a result, we must temporarily adjust our sales currency to align with our crude procurement currency,” the company explained.
The refinery said it remained committed to serving the Nigerian market and would resume the sale of its product to the local market in Naira as soon as it received crude cargoes from the NNPCL in Naira.
“As soon as we receive an allocation of Naira-denominated crude cargoes from NNPC, we will promptly resume petroleum product sales in Naira,” it said.
The announcement by the refinery comes amid its price war with the NNPCL.
As part of moves to reduce the strain on the US dollars, and guarantee price stability of petroleum products, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in July 2024, directed the NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira and not in United States’ greenback.
In the beginning of March 2025, the NNPCL said its Naira-denominated crude sales agreement with the Dangote Refinery was structured for six months with March 2025 as the expiration date.
The state company, however, said that talks were on to replace the contract, and that over 48 million barrels of crude oil have been made available to Dangote Refinery since October 2024 under the Naira-denominated arrangement.
The NNPCL also said it had made over 84 million barrels of crude oil available to the private refinery since it commenced operations in 2023.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, faces energy challenges, with all its state-owned refineries non-operational for decades until 2024. The country was heavily reliant on imported refined petroleum products, with the state-run NNPCL being the major importer of the essential commodities.
Fuel queues are commonplace in the country. Prices of petrol more than quadrupled since the removal of subsidy in May 2023 by President Bola Tinubu, from around ¦ 200/litre to about ¦ 1,000/litre, compounding the woes of the citizens who power their vehicles, and generating sets with petrol, no thanks to decades-long epileptic electricity supply.
Last December, the billionaire industrialist commenced operations at the facility situated in Lagos with 350,000 barrels a day. The refinery, which was initially bogged by regulatory battles, hopes to achieve its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year. The refinery has begun the supply of diesel and aviation fuel to marketers in the country and now petrol.
Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has overtaken Egypt’s Omar Assar to become Africa’s highest-ranked player in the world, now sitting at 18th in the week 12 ranking released on Tuesday.
Aruna moved up from 19th place in week 11 to 18th in the latest ranking, while Assar dropped from 17th to 19th.
Denmark’s Jonathan Groth took over Assar’s 17th place, moving up from 18th.
Despite finishing as runner-up at the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup, Aruna’s impressive performances at the WTT tournaments this year have boosted his ranking.
Aruna remains the only African male player to have reached the semi-finals of the WTT Contender Doha, repeating his 2023 feat earlier this year in January.
This achievement has propelled him ahead of Assar, who beat him to become the champion of the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup.
Aruna’s next tournament is the WTT Contender Chennai which serves off in India from March 23 to 20.
In the women’s singles, Egypt’s Hana Goda maintained her top spot in Africa, moving up one place to 26th in the week 12 ITTF ranking. Her compatriot, Dina Meshref, remained static at 33rd, holding her position as the second-best-ranked female player in Africa.
China’s Wang Chuqin retained his position as the second-best player globally, behind his compatriot Lin Shidong, who continues to hold the top spot. Japanese superstar Tomokazu Harimoto dethroned China’s Liang Jingkun as the third-best player in the world after his semifinal finish in Chongqing.
In the women’s ranking, the top five remained unchanged, with China’s Sun Yingsha holding onto her top spot after retaining her WTT Champions Chongqing title.
