By Chiangi Avese, Makurdi
Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia has taken governance a shed away from the Benue’s political leadership which have been identified with rejoicing in the hardship of the generality of the people.
Gov. Alia’s many efforts in such people’s oriented projects since assuming office are indicative of his marked departure from the evils of the past which was designed to impoverish the masses of the state.
On Friday last week at the main auditorium of Benue State University College of Health Sciences, at the occasion of the Benue State University Teaching Hospital’s N7 Billion endowment and fund raising, the governor donated N2 Billion for upgrade of facilities and establishment of a Cancer treatment center to the hospital to enhance performance and stop medical tourism of the people of the state abroad.
In keeping with his avowals to the people of the state during his elections campaign, Gov. Alia’s gesture magnifies his loyalty to ensuring that whatever finances that comes to the state is utilize for the people’s common good.
The governor’s drafting to BSUTH of Dr. Stephen Hwande, a medical practitioner with illustrious private practice and uncommon dedication to take charge of affairs at the facility as the Chief Medical Director, CMD, in October last year was seen as certitude to necessary deliver.
Dr. Hwande’s less than a year stint at BSUTH has seen the facility move from near non-existence to a teaching hospital robust in efficient activities, a situation the CMD ascribes to Governor Alia’s considered allegiance and support to ensure the people of the state gets value for bringing him to power.
At the endowment fund raising ceremony, Gov. Alia decried the rate of death resulting from cancer complications in the state and called on new approaches as well as collective efforts to enable the curbing of cancer to the minimum. He reemphasize his administration’s resolve to increase healthcare expenditures in the state budget to give excellent and affordable services to the people of the state.
Access to quality healthcare particularly, and in other sectors of the state as it is with the Nigerian nation was brought to its knees during the incursions of the military into political power. Apart from the crass for wealth and materialism, they introduced unbelievable corrupt practices as medical tourism which served at the time, and is still serving as conduit pipes to enable theft of the State’s commonwealth.
Prudential utilization of resources to improve the health sector which Governor Alia is doing in Benue State now, should have been done both at the state and national level a long time ago. The massive yearly budgets gets spent on mundane and laughable areas that keeps our people in health and general economic conditions worse than in1976 when the state was created.
While our political leaders rejoices in churning out statistics of medical situations which have unfortunately been the results of thousands of death of our fellow citizens, the turn of event by Governor Hyacinth Iormem Alia in Benue State is commendable.
Cancer is not such a medical condition that our hospitals should not have been able to treat after over 60 years of independence. The human resources as exemplify by Dr. Stephen Hwande at his First Fertility Hospital, to provide the best medical services is available, willing and ready to work. But the material resources are lacking in many instances. We lack the material resources because past leaders in the state have refused to provide them, thinking selfishly that if they stole enough, they would travel abroad to get anything they require.
Those who had the opportunity of writing their names in gold, instead of developing the state, are mentioned to have stolen catastrophic amounts of the state funds to afford themselves exclusive and exotic expenses such as overseas medical tourism, education for their wards and those of their cronies, as well as business empires in other nations.
With Governor Alia’s adhesion to deliver on his mandate to the people of Benue State, BSUTH in the last few months have seen memoranda of understanding entered into by the state government for upgrade of facilities at the hospital and other health facilities across the state.
A fully equipped molecular laboratory to provide tests and investigations in B group streptococcus nucleic acid, Chlamydia trachomatis nucleic acid test, ureaplasma urealyticum nucleic acid test, human mycoplasma nucleic acid test, gonococcal nucleic acid test has been set up with state-of-the-art machines to ensure 100% accurate test results and making doctors work easy.
A molecular laboratory is a medical laboratory that specializes in the detection and analysis of genetic materials (DNA or RNA) and proteins to diagnose and monitor diseases. It plays a crucial role in various fields, including Cancer diagnosis and treatment, infectious diseases detection and management, genetic testing and research.
With the above, Gov. Hyacinth Iormem Alia is giving to the populace what was been stolen from them since the creation of the state over 40 year ago. Not just in health, but also education in which, public primary and secondary schools hitherto deliberately neglected and almost made extinct, are been revamped and made attractive once again.
Just last week, councils for the state tertiary institutions made up of people with abundant originalities were inaugurated with the mandate to improve the status of the instructions from what they are going to meet. At the inauguration, Gov. Alia emphasize adherence to transparency and accountability in his address to the members in the conduct of their activities.
It is important to note that, the rich of the Benue society, majority of which have gotten rich on the quota of the Benue people, should without equivocations, contribute to the BSUTH N7 Billion endowment fund and such other areas. Only this way can they be seen to give back to the society that gave them state and national identity.
Governor Alia’s industrialization of the Agricultural sector in the State is legendary. Farmers who were spoken of in derisive terms because of the peasantry nature of the sector now delight in thumbing their chests and declaring “I am a farmer”, because of the attention given the Agricultural sector.
Inputs and machineries to help revolutionize the state agricultural sector to mechanize status have been procured with determined efforts on the way to acquire those necessary, but now lacking. The sector has been open up for investors to come and take advantage of the clement climate of the state to explore the Agricultural potential available.
The answers to our food security reside with the Benue people who looks up to the political leadership to provide direction as it’s been done now. That this was not done earlier is a regrettably managerial ineptitude of successive leaders of all hues.
