…returns EMOWA, cultural centre to Benin monarch
Edo State Government on Wednesday said that it had made malaria testing and treatment free in all government hospitals across the state.
The decision, the government disclosed, was part of measures taken to improve access to healthcare delivery system in the state.
Also, the state government added that it had reversed the controversial Museum of West African Arts (MOWAA) to its original name, Edo Museum of West Africa (EMOWA), as conceived by the immediate past administration of Governor Godwin Obaseki before the change of name and concept.
ALSO READ: Oyebanji approves N6.77bn for new hospital buildings in three Ekiti communities
This was just as EMOWA and the almost-moribund Iva Akenzua Cultural Centre, Benin City, have been handed over to the Benin monarch, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Ewuare II, Oba of Benin, whom it described as the rightful owner of the two iconic structures.
The Special Adviser to Governor Monday Okpebholo on Health, Dr Andrew Iyamu, while speaking at the state government’s monthly briefing, said that the governor approved the policy to ensure that residents could access malaria treatment without financial constraints.
He said the administration had also renovated 65 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) across the 18 local government areas and 35 Secondary Health Centres, while efforts were being intensified to improve healthcare delivery and tackle substandard health facilities, quackery and fake drugs.
Iyamu, who was flanked by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Prince Kassim Afegbua, Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Chris Okaeben, and the Executive Secretary of the Edo State Drugs and Health Commodity Agency, Princess Kenny Okojie, said:
“Any government hospital you go, you don’t pay for malaria testing and treatment. It is free. The arrangement is for two years; after two years, the policy will be reviewed.
“We have renovated a total of 65 Primary Health Care Centres across the 18 local governments, and a total of 35 Secondary Health Centres.
“The Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, has also recruited about 1,000 health workers. The Eneghede General Hospital, which has been moribund for 19 years, has been renovated. Go to the doctors’ quarters; there is ongoing renovation of the doctors’ quarters.”
Iyamu also maintained that the late Special Adviser to Governor Okpebholo on Arewa, Alhaji Danjuma Garba, died as a result of treatment he received from a fake doctor.
On her part, the Executive Secretary of the Edo State Drugs and Health Commodity Agency, Princess Kenny Okojie, said the state government had renovated all its drug warehouses constructed during the administration of the late General Samuel Ogbemudia, which had become dilapidated.
She said the government was working with Chinese investors to be able to produce drugs for local use and sales to neighboring states.
“We have renovated the drug warehouses that were built during the time of General Samuel Ogbemudia.
The state government is working with Chinese investors to produce drugs in Edo State. We are also to supply drugs to the private sector.
Speaking on the return of EMOWA and the Oba Akenzua Cultural Centre to the Benin monarch, Okaeben said the decisions were two strong policy decisions taken by Governor Monday Okpebholo.
The Edo State Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Creative Economy explained that contrary to claims that the European Union invested in MOWAA, it was established that the Union only gave a grant in support of the project, adding that the Edo State Government, apart from providing the land, invested N3.8 billion in MOWAA, which will now revert to its original name, EMOWA.
Okaeben described Governor Okpebholo’s coming as a blessing to Edo people, pointing out that the State’s traditional and cultural values were gone, arising from cultism and kidnapping, before the governor came to sanitise the land.
The Commissioner announced that the Edo Carnival, meant to enhance the unity of Edo people, would be held in December, adding that his Ministry is grading hotels in the state to enhance tourism.
“We are partnering with investors on heritage sites. Benin moat is one of the state’s most important heritage sites for tourists to visit”, Okaeben added.
Speaking earlier, the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Prince Kassim Afegbua, while acknowledging complaints about bad roads, stated that many of the roads inherited by the Okpebholo administration from the previous administration, particularly the Obaseki administration, were of low quality.
He, however, assured that the Edo State Government would embark on massive road rehabilitation and construction of roads in the Government Reserved Areas (GRA) at the end of the rainy season.
WATCH TOP VIDEOS FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE TV