Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa
The governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, has known the collaboration between the federal and state governments as the panacea for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Diri said this at the inauguration of a 100-bed maternal and child hospital built through a partnership between the President’s Chief Special Assistant on the SDGs workplace and the SDG state workplace in Azikoro City, Yenagoa.
He noted that neither the federal nor the state government can function in isolation without each other, and praised President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the state gymnasium.
The governor said the project, named after the Dr. Aisha Buhari Maternal and Child Hospital, will address infant and maternal mortality.
He explained that the state had a similar facility, it needed to move to a COVID-19 center at the height of the pandemic.
Diri believed the facility would benefit the state’s residents and described it as one of the fruitful results of the state’s collaboration with the federal government.
He thanked the Chair’s Senior Special Assistant on the SDGs, Dr. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, for making sure to put the finishing touches on the building.
He said: “There is no point of government that is autonomous. The federal government wants the states, just as the states want the federal government. So when we partner, we will address a lot of Sustainable Development Goals. “
“This is not the first mother-child hospital in the state. Chevron built a similar facility at Bayelsa Medical University, but at the height of COVID-19, we had to turn it into a HOSPITAL for COVID-19. Since then, we have needed to supply our mothers and children until this opportunity presents itself and we do.
“Even when I was tempted to make this assignment effective in my community, I looked at the clues of the population and its proximity to our mothers and thought that they would have to be domiciled in Yenagoa.
“This facility will be of great help to us as a people. In fact, for me, it’s one of the most productive things that has happened to us as a state. But like Oliver Twist, we look forward to playing for more.
“Now our women and young women have a position to give birth. They will no longer attend the classical doctors but will take fashionable remedies and medicines.
“The facility has devices that can be located anywhere in the world. That’s why I’m very happy. Explain our appreciation to Mr. President for this collaborative effort and for doing this for our mothers and children.
Earlier, the President’s Chief Special Assistant on the SDGs, Dr. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire thanked the President for offering the mandate that ensured collaboration with the Bayelsa State Government, which accelerated projects under the SDGs.
He also thanked Governor Diri for his support, cooperation and implementation of the SDGs in the state, adding that the hospital has an ultrascan room, a comprehensive care unit for young people and mothers, laboratories, among other facilities.
In his remarks, the State Focal Point and Principal Special Assistant to the SDGs, Dr. Ebiwari Wariowei, thanked the Governor for offering the State’s counterpart investment for all SDG projects and programs, which he said had amounted to N3. 5 billion.
Other opened projects include two blocks of 24 furnished study rooms at the Okaka Government College of Science and Technology, a skills and entrepreneurship center, and two blocks of 24 furnished study rooms in Sampou.
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