Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, on Thursday evening, rounded off his inauguration-of-projects tour of Edo South Senatorial Zone with the inauguration of a road and bridge project in Aden community in Ovia Southwest.
Aden community is located between Okada and Ogbogui-Abangbe Spur to Benin-Sagamu Road and had been cut off from the contiguous communities due to the deplorable state of the existing narrow bridge.
Agba said that rural roads, including bridges, in rural communities countrywide benefited from a sum of N500 billion released by the federal Government as palliatives in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic to open the rural communities to prevent post-harvest losses of farm produce with a view to keeping people alive and livelihood going.
He said that out of the N500 billion released under the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP), N60 billion was set aside for rehabilitation of rural roads.
The minister told the jubilant community leaders and members that his attention was adverted to the deplorable state of the bridge and road by Engineer Stanley Dako.
According to him, “Engineer Dako told me there was an oil mill in the community and that the deplorable bridge was a single lane bridge.”
He stated that the bridges that benefitted from the Federal Government’s intervention in Edo State were Adem Bridge delivered a cost of N600m and another bridge at a cost of N480 million.
He explained that the sum of the contract for the Adem Bride and Road was N1.2 billion, and expressed happiness that the bridge had been competed and was no longer one lane.
Agba said that all the glory for the projects should go to President Muhammadu Buhari, who approved the budgetary provisions and expenditure on the projects across the country.
He said the good thing about the projects was that they were facilitated by the All progressives Congress (APC) and all APC members could claim credit for them.
The Youth Chairman of Aden Community, Mr Malvis Noghaghese, thanked the federal government for remembering them, stressing that “today, there is transformation in our community.”
At the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) where he was received by the Chairman of the Board of the hospital, Bashorun A. Adewole, Agba inspected the molecular lab and the Intensive care Unit, which were funded through the N950 million made available to each of 52 tertiary health centres in the country in the wake of the COVOD-19 pandemic.
He said the intervention derived from the decision by the Federal Government to build resilience for the nation’s health system after the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, had raised the alarm on the deplorable state of the nation’s health system.
Agba said that the federal government could, as of now, boast of 52 molecular laboratories up from two and a half that were in existence when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.
According to him, “We gave each of these tertiary health centres N950 million to build ICU, molecular centres, furnish them, build Isolation centres and personal protective equipment.”
He recalled that he visited the UBTH in 2021 to assess the progress of work done, adding that he decided to pass through the UBTH now that he was in Benin on inspection to see what the management had done with the allocations and disbursements.
The minister stated that in 2023, the federal government decided to have a further intervention in 13 health centres countrywide and an additional sum of N1 billion was each made to the UBTH and the Specialist Hospital at Irrua.
He clarified that three hospitals in Edo state-UBTH, the Specialist Hospital, Irrua, and the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital at Iselu got N950 million each, adding that there was a further $18m funding intervention support by the Japanese government in seven health institutions in the country which also covered the UBTH and the Irrua Specialist Hospital.
Bashorun Adewolu commended President Buhari for all he had done in the health sector, saying that the minister’s visit was unique and remarkable in that it coincided with the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the UBTH.
“We are proud of what you had helped us to achieve; and we are proud of the achievements of the Buhari’s government.”
The minister also visited the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital at Uselu in Benin to inspect the molecular lab, ICU and other facilities funded under the ESP, which also, as the UBTH, did a good job of delivering top-class facilities with the funds provided by the federal government.
The ministerial inauguration and inspection tour was rounded off with a visit to Evbotubu-Ukpoke Road where the ministerial team assessed the extent of ongoing construction work on the road.
Stay ahead with the latest updates! Join The ConclaveNG on WhatsApp and Telegram for real-time news alerts, breaking stories, and exclusive content delivered straight to your phone. Don’t miss a headline — subscribe now!
