Rotary District 9110 gets new governor, to focus on health, youth empowerment

District 9110 of the Rotary International Nigeria has said it would prioritise primary healthcare and youth empowerment through the creation of vocational and skills acquisition centres.

The newly installed District 9110 Governor, Rotarian Adewale Ogunbadejo, gave the assurance during his installation ceremony at the MUSON Centre, Onikan Lagos at the weekend. Specifically, he said Rotary under him would locate and renovate no fewer than 10 primary health centres in the 2017/2018 Rotary year.

Speaking to journalists about his plans for the year, he said: “I realised we are needed most now, especially in Nigeria, with the level of poverty, intolerance and hardship. The needs are huge, but we can only do a little within one year. As a doctor, my first priority will be the health sector.

“If you look at the health system in Nigeria, it is like a pyramid but the most important is the primary health centres, which are the first points of contact for most of the people in the rural and semi-urban areas, who are the majority of the population to meet doctors or medical practitioners. And we have the secondary, which are the hospitals.”

Ogunbadejo said another critical thing he planned to achieve was to create vocational centres where unemployed Nigerian youths would acquire skills after which they could access micro credits to set up their own small businesses.

He also stated that Rotary would embark on a lot of water and sanitation projects, which are either on-going or will start in the coming Rotary year, adding: “We have one in Oworonsoki that includes water treatment to serve a school compound with about 3,000 pupils at a cost of $69,000.”