Niger Delta
Seadogs Offer Free Medicare To 500 Persons In Edo
The National Association of Seadogs (NAS), Edo North Branch, says about 500 persons will benefit from its free healthcare services.
President of NAS, Edo North Branch, Mr Odion Dirisu, stated this during the flag-off of a one-day Health Initiative for Rural Dwellers in Ogbido, Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State, weekend.
Dirisu said the programme, tagged “NAS Medical Mission”, is in collaboration with Okavango Deck South Africa and Rahi Hospital Limited.
According to him, the programme Is aimed at promoting the wellbeing of indigent persons at the grassroots by granting them easier access to free and quality healthcare.
“The National association of Seadogs (Pyrates Confraternity) was founded in 1952 with the cardinal objective to protect the weak in the society.
“This free health services is initiated by the Association of Seadogs as part of our humanitarian service to assist rural communities to meet their health needs.
“Ogbido is at disadvantage because this community has not witnessed any free healthcare service.
“We did our survey and at the end, Ogbido was chosen as the next community to benefit from the free healthcare service,” he said.
The Chief Executive Officer of Rahi Hospital, Dr Chris Ekiyor, said the outreach targeted indigent people in rural communities on key areas such as general consultation and surgical referrals and dental consultation.
Ekiyor said the interventions also included prostrate cancer test and paediatric care as well as distribution of free eye glasses and drugs.
According to him, others were screening for common ailments among the elderly and children, diabetes, HIV, typhoid fever, malaria test, hypertension and deworming of little children, among others.
“During the exercise, medical volunteers will carry out diagnosis, treatment and medical procedures, while drugs, eye glasses and other medical consumables are also given to patients free of charge.
“So far, we have attended to 200 persons and our target is 500 persons through our free health medical outreach,” he said.
Ekiyor said the association also focused on sensitising the people toward handling threats posed by deadly viral diseases to complement government efforts in preventing diseases.
He urged communities to imbibe personal hygiene and environmental cleanliness as preventive measures against outbreak.
“Health is wealth. They (people) should take their health seriously, when they hear anything, especially free medical care, they should come out en-mass and use the opportunity to test themselves,’’ Ekiyor said.
The village head of Ogbido, Chief Sadiq Imhonikhe, and some of the beneficiaries, who spoke to The Tide’s source, thanked the association for the gesture and urged people in the community to come out en mass for the free medical service.
“This is the first time Ogbido Community is witnessing free medical services.
“This is a great initiative and we appreciate Association of Seadogs for the outreach,” they said.
The Tide’s source reports that the National Association of Seadogs is an independent, humanitarian organisation offering free medical care to the indigent across the world.
The organisation is a volunteer group engaged in health care promotion in disadvantaged communities.
The Mayor of Housing, My-ACE China, has alerted the Governor of Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and Abia states to what he calls an emerging ‘Economic Triangle’ within their states.
Mr China, a real estate success strategist who has won numerous local and international awards, has thus drawn the attention of the governors of the concerned states to the emerging development and has urged them to intentionally accelerate the emergence of the economic triangle.
Speaking to newsmen in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital at the conclusion of his business trip to the state, Mr China, who is the managing director of the Housing and Construction Mayor Limited, said the envisaged economic corridor would compete favourably with the Lagos economic hub or even better.
He said: “Talking about ‘Economic Triangle’, the only place that can wrest economic power from Lagos is Akwa Ibom, Abia, and Rivers states axis or corridor. This corridor contains more than Lagos has, if they can be interconnected with smooth roads, ports, and if their blue potentials are unlocked. They will not only wrest power from Lagos but would be more lucrative.”
The investor who is behind the emerging Alesa Highlands Green Smart City in Eleme, near Port Harcourt, said the new ‘Economic Triangle’ has a bigger potential due to massive land assets with the corridor plus blue economy and the existing hydrocarbon industry.
Explaining, Mayor of Housing said Aba (Abia State) provides the biggest fabrication capacity in West Africa to supply goods to the Gulf of Guinea; Port Harcourt provides access to the Gulf of Guinea for off-taking Aba products, and the Uyo provides deep sea port at Ibaka and international airport facilities as well as forest reserves for massive agro-economy.
He said with sea ports in Rivers State and deep seaport in Akwa Ibom, and international airports in Rivers and Akwa Ibom, Aba can focus on adequate power supply and fabrication boom to supply a new booming market around the economic triangle.
By doing this, he said, jobs would spill out in huge quantities and more manufacturers would be drawn from all over Africa to boost the fast coming African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). He said Nigeria would thus have two major trade nodes in West Africa; Lagos and the PH/UYO/Aba triangle.
He said goods going to or coming from Chad, Niger, and the rest of Central Africa can head to the Lagos ports or to the Ibaka/PH ports zone in the new economic triangle.
He said with power supply made stable, good roads, excellent security system, and ease of doing business enthroned in the zone, the South-South and South East would become the biggest economic nerve in the near future.
Mayor of Housing called on governors of the three states to be intentional about the new corridor, put away political differences (if any), and create this corridor by agreeing on projects each state would execute with a short period of time so the states would be linked by good roads, communication, security, trade laws, concessions to investors, etc.
He remarked that northerners were already heading to the Onne Port in Rivers State to export goods, saying creating a commission to oversee the development of the ‘Economic Triangle’ would fast-track its emergence.
He observed that people of the three states are peaceful and usually preoccupied with zeal for economic prosperity, saying that if they are linked to such huge opportunities staring at them in the emerging economic triangle, they would totally shun violence and focus on prosperity.
Mr China insisted that the emerging economic triangle would form a big node not only into the Gulf of Guinea economic zone but into Africa because AfCFTA is about production, certification, market availability, and easy transport nodes by sea and air. He said the new economic triangle boasts of all the factors.
“They can only realise this by working together, through collaboration. One state cannot do it but a triangle of the three will create it through seamless interconnection, ports, industrial park, etc. The people will be the richest and internally generated revenue (IGR) will be the biggest in the country,” he said.
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