Retired Lt.-Gen. Theophilus Danjuma Tuesday inaugurated Kuru Danjuma Hospital for Children in his home town Takum, Taraba, which was constructed by the TY Danjuma Foundation.

Danjuma, Chairman of the Foundation noted at the event that the state-of- the- art hospital was named after his late father Kuru, who according to him exemplified selfless service to humanity.

“The Kuru Danjuma Hospital for children is a state -of the -art specialised facility, providing top-notched services aimed at enhancing the health and wellbeing of children.

“The primary aim of the hospital is to lead, define and provide affordable world -class pediatric healthcare services, centered on health promotion, disease prevention and quality treatment of children,” he said.

According to him, though the inauguration occurred on Monday, the doors of the hospital had been opened since March 1.

“I am pleased to inform you that the hospital has already saved a lot of lives which would easily have perished because of lack of access to quality healthcare,” he noted.

He commended Gov. Darius Ishaku of Taraba for supporting the project by constructing access road to the hospital and accommodation for doctors among others.

Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, described the private sector initiative of Danjuma on health intervention as unique.

Ehanire noted that the action was in line with the mission of President Muhammadu Buhari for quality healthcare delivery for all Nigerians.

Ishaku lauded Danjuma for greatly intervening in health and educational institutions across the country.

The governor noted that Danjuma built a maternity hospital in Takum in 2017 which had since been delivering quality services to the people and now a children hospital.

Ishaku, who explained that his administration had built many primary health centres and rehabilitated tertiary hospitals across the state, described Danjuma’s intervention as awesome. (NAN)

NDLEA Seizes Over 3m Kilograms of Drugs in 11 Months

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said it had seized over three million kilograms of illicit drugs between January and November nationwide.

The Chiarman, NDLEA, (rtd.) Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, said this during the public destruction of illicit drugs yesterday in Abuja.

Marwa, was represented by the Secretary of the agency, Bar. Shadrach Haruna.

“Between January and November, we have mopped up over three million kilograms of illicit drugs and psychoactive substances in the country.

“We have arrested 10,355 traffickers, with at least 1,000 in jail while others are going through trials in court. Over 5,579 drug users have been counselled and rehabilitated.

“Still, we are not resting on our oars. This time around, we are going to clean the Augean Stable. We are getting more sophisticated equipment that will enable us to achieve our operational mandates.

“Our workforce has been motivated to perform with promotions and performance reward schemes, while we have also bolstered our strength with the employment of 5,000 officers and men this year,” he said.

Marwa noted that the statistics from the National Drug Use Survey (2018) was cause for concern, saying that just two of the facts were enough to cause a sober reflection.

He noted that 14.3 million Nigerians, aged 15-64 years, were abusing drugs, adding that it was the size of the population of some countries.

The NDLEA boss said the second fact was that 10.6 million of the compatriots abused cannabis, which made Nigeria the country with the highest number of people addicted to the psychotropic plant. (NAN)