Vision to pull 100m Nigerians out of poverty by 2030 intact, says Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has declared that the Federal Government’s vision of taking 10 million Nigerians out of poverty every year for the next 10 years is on course and actualisable owing to the “quantum leap in human capacity development attainments especially in the area of healthcare.”

He spoke yesterday at the kick-off of a nationwide Integrated Medical Outreach Programme (I-MOP) in Abuja.

According to him, “Mr. President has repeatedly asserted that his vision of taking 10 million Nigerians out of poverty every year for the next 10 years depends so clearly on the quantum leap that we must make in our human capacity development attainments especially in healthcare. This is why this integrated Medical Outreach Programme is a crucial feature of our overall human capacity development effort.”

On the significance of the programmes, especially in impacting the population in the rural parts of the country, Osinbajo said: “Despite our best efforts, there is a significant gap in bringing public health services to vulnerable populations especially in the rural, mountainous, riverine, peri-urban and other difficult-to-reach areas in the country.

“So this attempt to take basic healthcare services, health education, basic surgeries and screening for diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and cancer to these under-served and difficult-to-reach areas is an eminently sensible and practical plan.

“Not only does it provide free health services to communities that had never in the past enjoyed these sorts of services, but it also provides our public health institutions with invaluable disease identification opportunities and outreach lessons.”