NEWS
Ododo Pledges to Boost Healthcare Investment in Kogi
The Kogi Governor, Alhaji Usman Ododo, has pledged to heavily invest in healthcare services for the wellbeing of citizens of the state.
Ododo made the pledge on Monday while addressing members of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and other healthcare professionals in Lokoja, after the conclusion of a three-day medical outreach in the state.
The governor said that his commitment to sustain investment in the health sector and the just-concluded free medical outreach were in line with his campaign promises to make healthcare more affordable and accessible to citizens.
“It’s my desire to ensure that healthcare remains the top priority of my administration.
“This is because a healthy society is a wealthy society. I will continue to support you, the medical professionals, in this exercise and ensure that it reaches our people in all parts of the state.
“I want you to count on my support as we work together to make the free medical outreach a flagship programme in our calendar of medical activities in the state.
“So that we can make healthcare more accessible and affordable to our people,” he said.
He disclosed that he was set to unveil a flagship healthcare intervention that would deliver free medical services to residents in all parts of the state.
The governor called on all medical practitioners to sustain their support for his administration and expand the scope of their collaboration with the government through the state Ministry of Health.
In his remarks, Dr Abdulazeez Adams, the state Commissioner for Health, commended the medical team for the successful conduct of the free medical outreach.
He expressed pleasure that the medical outreach was a clear testament to the dedication of medical professionals working in Kogi State.
Adams commended Gov. Ododo for the attention given to the welfare of healthcare professionals in the state and for providing enabling environment for medical professionals to excel in delivery of healthcare services to people of the state.
Also speaking, the spokesman of the committee of NMA Past Chairmen, Dr David Aimila, described the free medical outreach as a high-powered intervention that delivered unprecedented interventions in various fields of medicine and healthcare services.
Aimila praised Gov. Ododo for the priority accorded to the health sector and professionals by the administration.
In his remarks, Prof. Solomon Avidime, Chief Medical Director, Reference Hospital Okene, and host of the medical team, applauded the governor for the health-friendly posture of the administration.
The CMD said that Reference Hospital Okene was eager to host many such medical missions, which he noted complemented the free health insurance policy of the state government by bridging the gap in healthcare coverage across the state.(NAN)
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit Zone C, says it intercepted contrabands with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N510.92 million between July 15th and September 15th, 2024.The zone covers the six states in the South-South geopolitical zone and the five states in the Southeast geopolitical zone.
This is contained in a statement signed by Jerry Attah, Public Relations Officer, NCS, Zone C, and made available to journalists on Wednesday. According to the statement, Comptroller Michael Ugbagu, NCS, Zone C, gave the statistics while showcasing the seized contraband to relevant regulatory agencies at the Government Warehouse in Edo.Ugbagu said that the zone also recovered the sum of N25.57 million from demand notices raised based on some infractions noticed, making a cumulative sum of N536.49 million recorded within the months under review.“The DPV was derived from our seized goods, which include 49,699 sachets of various brands of tramadol and 3,350 bottles of various cough syrups with codeine without an NAFDAC number.“1,015 sacks of dry donkey meat and skin, 75 jumbo bales of second-hand clothing, 463 cartons of foreign spaghetti, 269 pieces of used pneumatic tires, and 56 cartons of smuggled foreign tomato paste.“More worrisome is the interception of 49,699 sachets of various brands of tramadol and 3,350 bottles of various cough syrups with codeine without NAFDAC registration numbers.”He noted that the cough syrup with codeine and tramadol without NAFDAC registration numbers, if not intercepted, could have had adverse effects on youths.He added that the items were mostly intercepted along the Ewu-Okada/Benin expressways based on credible intelligence. (NAN)
The Forum of Stakeholders of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has decried the deplorable condition of some federal roads in Nigeria. Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, the North-Central Chairman of the forum, said this in an interaction with newsmen on Wednesday in Jos. Zazzaga described some of the federal roads as ”death traps”, particularly those within the north-central region.
He said that some of the deplorable roads in the region include Jos-Akwanga, Makurdi-Oturkpo-Otukpa, Makurdi-Ankpa, and Jos-Saminaka. Other roads that needed urgent attention, he said, included Suleja-Minna, Ejule-Otukpa, Ganawuri-Manchok, Lokoja-Abuja, Lapai-Agaie-Bida, Birnin-Gwari-Bokani-Mokwa, Minna-Zungeru-Tegina-Kontagora. ”Currently, the north-central region has the most deplorable roads and highways in the country. ”These deplorable roads have brought severe hardship on the people and lost lives and property through preventable road traffic crashes. ”We call on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and ensure the rehabilitation of these roads because good roads are vital enablers of development,” he said. The chairman also called on governors of states within the region to reconstruct the dilapidated roads and seek refunds from the federal government. ”Though these are largely federal roads, they are located within states, and the beneficiaries are the people of these states. ”So we call on state governments to reconstruct these roads and seek refunds from the federal government,” he added. (NAN
The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 160 pips to 7.087 against the dollar on Wednesday.This is according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.In China’s spot foreigners exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by two per cent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the yuan against the dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. (Xinhua/NAN)
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