Obaseki, Zamfara gov, others advocate sustainability of projects

Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo 2024 governorship election, Dr. Asue Ighodalo (left); Provost of the Edo State College of Nursing Sciences, Prof. Patricia Ukaigwe; Provost of the Edo College of Health Sciences and Technology (EdoCOHEST), Dr. Moyo Kasim; Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki; Zamfara State Governor, Dr. Dauda Lawal and Dr. Esther Oshunliyi at the commissioning of the newly revamped Edo College of Health Sciences and Technology, in Benin City…yesterday.

The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, and his Zamfara State counterpart, Dr. Dauda Lawal, among other dignitaries, on Wednesday, commissioned the Edo College of Health Sciences and Technology (EdoCOHEST), which has been reconstructed and upgraded to meet global standards.

Obaseki at the three-in-one event, including the commissioning, matriculation, and 60th anniversary of the institution, said his government in the last eight years has revamped all healthcare institutions and built a resilient system to cater to the healthcare needs of Edo people.

Governor Obaseki, who called for the support of all stakeholders to ensure the sustainability of all programmes and projects embarked on by his government to better the lives of the people, said the revamping of institutions is part of his administration’s commitment to build on the legacy of the state’s founding fathers.

Obaseki said: “60 years ago, our founding fathers, having broken away from the Western Region came and founded the Mid-West Region and decided that an institution like this was very important to our healthcare system and therefore founded this school 60 years ago.

“For some accidents of history, people came along the line and never appreciated an institution like this. But COVID-19 opened my eyes to the state of healthcare in Edo State and Nigeria. Our inability to respond to COVID-19 scared me of that pandemic. The school of nursing closed down, with no accreditation; the school of health technology was closed down too. How are we therefore employing people working in our hospital?”

Obaseki continued, “I brought down Central Hospital and have no regret as we now have 10 primary healthcare centres replacing that and serving the people well now. Go and see what we have done with Oredo Primary Healthcare Center, Amagba, Evbuotubu, and other places where we are building centres.

“Nigeria has more than 25,000 political wards, and the policy is that there must be one PHC in every ward so that the sick don’t need to travel far to get medical care. We have almost 200 wards in Edo. If you need 10 people in each PHC, how many workers would we require? That’s about 2,000. Where do we train them?”

On his part, the Zamfara State Governor who commended Obaseki for prioritising the needs of the people, noted that Obaseki has rekindled hope in Edo State and Nigeria.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Provost of the institution, Dr. Moyo, thanked Governor Obaseki for investing in the institution which has now become one of the best schools of health sciences in Nigeria.