By Bassey Nkponam
UYO
The Akwa Ibom governor has proposed a statewide ambulance service that will complement State government’s drive in repositioning the health sector of the State.
Pastor Umo Eno bared his mind,recently, while undertaking a facility tour of the State House of Assembly Complex, along Udo Udoma Avenue, Uyo, to ascertain the extent of dilapidation and the need for its upgrade to ensure compliance with expected standards for such edifice.
Eno said the ambulance service will be another step by government to position the state’s health care system in the proper pedestal, in addition to the remodelling of existing health care centres, provision of new primary healthcare facilities, approval of recruitment of 400 healthcare personnel, and the recent approval for 100 safety and health emergency personnel.
While touring the Assembly complex, the governor said his visit was to honour the invitation by the leadership of the Assembly to inspect the complex for consideration of appropriate actions to fix them and, however, expressed regret over the deplorable state of some facilities within the complex and stressed the need for basic safety equipment and designated safety personnel on the facility, while paying tributes to the earlier leaders of the state who, according to him, thought it wise to put up one of the best House of Assembly edifice in Nigeria.
Eno, who expressed regrets that the facilities have been left to decay over time, was happy that government has constituted an Infrastructure and Assets Management and Maintenance Agency which job is to ensure that government assets are preserved and maintained.
He said the agency, which has a Health and Environmental Safety Directorate, will work with the Assembly to ensure consideration of health and safety issues during the renovation of the facility.
“You have been pressing for the renovation of this facility and in my usual way, I have to see for myself, first hand, what we are talking about so that we can be accountable to the people through, of course, the various committees of the House.
“As you are aware, we now have an Asset and Infrastructure Management Agency. Their job basically, is to ensure that government’s assets are preserved and maintained. They will be working with you. In that agency is a Health and Environmental Safety Directorate. Going round all of this, we see that there are no safety gadgets, in case anything happens. So, I belief that this renovation will take into consideration all of the safety issues”.
The governor applauded the leadership and members of the 8th Assembly for their role in maintaining the harmonious and collaborative relationship with the executive arm which has aided the pace of development and good governance deliverables in line with his administration’s ARISE Agenda.
Eno promised to reciprocate the gesture by ensuring convenience and safety of the Assembly and its occupants, while assuring of continued partnership with all arms of government to collaboratively give the dividends of democracy to the people.
“The Bills you have passed all dovetail to the welfare of our people and I’m glad to be here for this very brief visit. I want to thank you for coming out to receive us, despite being on vacation. We don’t take this for granted. We’ll continue to work together with all arms of government, collaboratively, to give the dividends of democracy to our people. On behalf of all of us from the Executive arm of government, I thank you”.
The speaker of the State House of Assembly, Elder Udeme Otong, welcomed the governor to the complex, describing his visit as unprecedented.
Otong, who conducted Eno round the complex, made known that the House had resolved to reciprocate the governor’s gesture through continued collaboration to deliver good governance to Akwa Ibom people through the ARISE Agenda of his administration.
He expressed the delight of the legislators over the visit and the expression of goodwill by the governor towards the Legislature.
Discussion about this post