Health Minister Inaugurates Ebonyi’s N350m Lassa Fever Centre

The  N350 million Lassa Fever Virology Diagnostic and Treatment Centre built by  the Ebonyi State Government has been inaugurated by the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole.

Adewole, who was in company with his Agriculture counterpart, Chief Audu, Ogbeh and Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi,  during the ceremony, said he was excited that a state government could embark on such a life-saving centre without any prompting by the Federal Government.

He said the Federal Government would run the facility in partnership with the state to ensure its success,  adding that the centre would be  converted to South- East Diagnostic and Treatment centre.

He said, ‘’I am actually short of words; I am yet to recover from shock over this giant stride. This actually surpasses my expectations and I must say clearly that we should see this as a partnership. 

‘’Let me say clearly, Your Excellency that we will make this hospital functional. We stated in January that we want to build six virology centres in the country and the budget processes were made and was signed by Mr. President in May.

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‘’This will be the centre for South-East. We need to partner with the CMD of FETHA  and your state Ministry of Health . We should use the N350m you ask us to refund for the  procurement of more equipment for the centre."

The minister  hailed  Governor Umahi's commitment to the health sector, saying he is star model in the country.

‘’This centre will actually turn things around. Your Excellency, you have shown great interest in health and we are proud of you. In terms  of commitment to health, you are one of our stars examples in the country. We will continue to partner with you,’’  he said.

Earlier,  Umahi, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Emma Anya  said he was moved to build the centre when he started seeing  people die  of lassa fever virus.

He said, ‘’ The health of our people is very paramount to our administration.

We watched helplessly our people dying of this deadly disease and so the CMD told us that for over 10 years, they have been begging that this centre be built and we have to swing into action.

‘’What we request of you is to make this place South-East diagnosis and treatment. In doing that sir, you will make the hospital to run on its own.

‘’We spent about N350 million with all the equipment together. With this N350m, we can treat other people  from outside Ebonyi but if you don’t refund us the money, when people come we charge them. ’’

Ebonyi's One-man, One hectare Agric Programme Begins As Youths Get Cheques

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, on Monday flagged of the Governor David Umahi  administration's   one-man, one hectare agricultural programme in the state.

The ocassion which was  witnessed by the  Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adawele, was kick started with  the planting of palm trees at Ezillo Farm and a symbolic tree of peace at Ishielu Local Government Area headquarters. The symbolic tree was  to commemorate a  peace agreement between Ezillo and Ezza-Ezillo.

Speaking at the Abakaliki Township Stadium  where thousands of women and youths had gathered to witness   the grand finale of  events,  Ogbeh pledged Federal Government's support to Ebonyi State in its agricultural programme.

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He said, "We are going to bring machinery here. We hope that before we round up, there will be a major industrial starch plant in this state. We also believe that we will  let you have some cassava flour processing plants, especially  for cassava, fufu, very nice food to eat. We shall bring you another crop, cashew nut, because the demand for cashew nut in the  international market is high. You are famous for rice production, but you are going to be more famous when we bring our programme for implementation.

"Today, I assure you that  we shall join hands with you to make your rice production plan  work. We shall make sure you get the best seed, especially the F.44. It is about the national standard we have because in Nigeria today, there are over 70 varieties of rice. We cannot grow all."

The minister, who also promised to bring rice harvesters and threshers to Ebonyi State, commended Governor Umahi for the robust agricultural programme, especially the  one-man,  one-hectare policy.

Challenging politicians and civil servants to have a second address in agriculture, he said that   poverty in the country was not acceptable.

He explained that there was hunger in the country today because Nigerians had been lazy in the past by focussing on oil and importation of everything, including toothpicks. 

  "What your governor is doing is going to be strongly supported by us. We shall support you with good seeds. And before the year runs out for the rice harvest, we shall bring in small machines to help you harvest your rice. And for those of you civil servants, politicians and so on going into agriculture, should take the business seriously," a statement by Umahi's Chief Press Secretary Emma Anya quoted the minister as saying.

Ogbeh, who in company with Umahi, later gave out a symbolic cheque to one of the beneficiaries of the state's youth and women empowerment programme,  told the youth that the governor, had by his actions "handed over the key to prosperity" to them.

Umahi had in his opening remarks explained that the agricultural programme   was aimed at ensuring food security for the state and the country. He said his administration had among others,   procured   40  tractors, distributed  farm seedlings and gotten soft loans for  genuine farmers in the state.

Gov. Umahi flags off N2.1bn Operation Water Ebonyi State

Ebonyi State Government is to spend N 2.1 billion on the rehabilitation of water facilities to meet  the  water needs  of  residents of  the state.

Governor David Umahi stated this in Abakaliki on Thursday  while flagging off the state’s Sustainable Development Goals  water projects in the three senatorial zones of the state which he dubbed “Operation Water Ebonyi State.”

Addressing the people during the ceremony,  the governor said Ebonyi was among the 10 lucky states that accessed the SDG grant of N 600 million each .

According to the governor, the beneficiary states were expected to match the grant with additional N600m each in order to access the fund. He explained that  Ebonyi  did not only do so, it injected additional N900m into the pool, thereby having  the N2.1bn for the water projects.

The sum, he added, would be used to fix   the Ezillo water plant,  the Sacamori water station,  the Juju hill water scheme and the Ohaozara water station.

A statement  on Friday by his Chief Press Secretary, Emma Anya, quoted Umahi as saying: “Let me put it properly that Federal Government gave N600m and we were expected to match it with another N600m.

“We did and we also provided another N900m. So all together, the three lots of the projects are  going to be costing us about N2.1bn. So, FG, N600m; Ebonyi State Government, N1.5bn.  

"Let me say that the scope of this job is, part one, rehabilitation of Ezillo water treatment plant, and Sacamori pipe line  network facilities. We tend to have storage Tanks in Ichichi Forest, which will supply the  Federal University at Ndufu Alike, supply the local government of Ikwo, supply some areas in Izzi, supply our rice mill and that of Engr.Ugwu as we make efforts to get our rice millers to also take over the UNIDO rice mill.

"The Sacamori pipeline has its network through Ezza North,Ezza south, Ishielu, Izzi,Ohaukwu, and even FUNAI .

"We want to do proper integration of Ezillo water scheme and that of Oferekpe to ensure that if we have problem with Oferekpe and it  is shut down, Ezillo will start supplying. But most  importantly is the distribution network in Abakaliki."

Umahi said the 3rd one is to address the water challenges in Ohaozara. Already, we have water treatment plant there.  So what we want to do is to build a storage tank at Agukwu and build another storage tank at Ugwulangwu. So with these two storage tanks, we can  network the entire Okposi, Uburu and   Ugwulangwu."

The governor, who  lauded  President MuhammadU Buhari and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babacir Lawal,  for  including Ebonyi State as a beneficiary of the  grant,  the aforementioned projects constituted the first major phase of the “Operation Water Ebonyi State.”

He also disclosed that  the Ishiagu water project had  been  redesigned and re- awarded to a competent contractor at the cost of N1.2 billion, stressing that the arrangement was to integrate all water projects.

He stated that the   Oferekpe and Ukawu water scheme would be completely ready to provide water.

Umahi also  emphasised that the distribution process of the pipelines had already  started.

"We just  started a process to do some distribution network of our pipelines .And I have directed Ministry of Water resources to immediately tell us the balance of the distribution, so that within the next one year, we should beat our chests and say, every body, especially within the capital city is drinking water."

The governor  assured the remaining local government areas that are not benefiting in the SDG water projects that they would  be considered in other areas such as provision of electricity.

He frowned at poor quality of some road project being handled by some contractors in the state and warned that any contractor who was not ready to keep to specification and standard would  be shown the way out .   

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Ebonyi Gov. Umahi suspends LG commissioner, disbands empowerment committee.

Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr. David Umahi has suspended the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters/Rural Development, Barr. Samuel Okoronkwo.

Although, Umahi did not clearly state the reason for his action, it was learnt it had to do with the lopsided selection of youths in the state for the Industrial Training Fund programme.

It was also gathered that Umahi, who directed that the most senior officer in the ministry should take over from Okoronkwo, later in the evening asked the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Dr. Ignatius Unah, to take charge. The most senior officer in the Local Government Ministry will consequently assist the permanent secretary.

The governor, who announced the suspension while declaring open the ITF programme in Abakaliki, also disbanded the state’s Committee on Empowerment.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Emma Anya quoted Umahi as saying “The Commissioner for Local Government is hereby suspended from office effective from now. And the highest officer, a civil servant, should take over and be attending Exco until further notice.

“This administration from day one has been built on the principle of justice, equity and fairness. In most of our programmes, we do equality of Local Governments. But in this kind of empowerment, we do equality of wards, so what I expected to see here would have been for them to borrow a leaf from what we are doing to empower about 3,000 of our women and youths.

“We are doing this and everybody is happy. We are called to build Ebonyi State where nobody will say I am from North, South or Central and I think we are succeeding. Anybody that is going to take us back to the dark ages will be resisted.”

Umahi however, stressed that his administration was poised to develop the capacity of the youths to become self- reliant.

He called on the youths of Ebonyi who are jobless in other parts of the country to return home and find something meaningful to do under his government’s youth-oriented programmes.

His words, "Every Ebonyi youth in other parts of the country especially Lagos should please come back home; we are ready to create jobs for them.

"A day is coming when nobody will be willing to seek political office because of the current reality. One day, there will be no kobo from the Federation Account so its high time we start thinking outside the box."

The governor said his administration would create over 100,000 jobs for the youths and women especially in the agricultural sector.

He said the state now Focuses mainly on mechanised system of farming, because "agriculture without technology is death."

Governor Umahi however promised the trainees of financial assistance to enable them set up their businesses after acquiring necessary skills from the programme.

Earlier, the ITF Area Manager (Enugu and Ebonyi states), Mrs Linda Egbonu, said the programme was organised to develop the mindset of the youths in areas of entrepreneurship and skill acquisition.

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Botched jailbreak: Umahi declares state of emergency on Abakaliki prisons

Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State has declared a state of emergency on Abakaliki Prisons.

He  made the declaration on Thursday evening  when he visited the prisons after a botched jailbreak by the inmates . Umahi had just  returned from Port Harcourt, Rivers State where he attended the Peoples Democratic Party national convention when he decided to visit the prisons.

The governor, according to a statement by his Chief Press Secreatary, Emma Anya said, “Early in the morning(Thursday), I was told of attempted jailbreak by inmates of Abakaliki Prisons. The Commissioner of Police (Peace Ibekwe-Abdallah) reported the incident to me and did promise that they (police) were re-inforcing. She told me she had contacted all the security chiefs in the state. They successfully prevented the inmates from escaping.

“Luckily, I am told that the prisoners are not complaining of any  maltreatment  and malnutrition. I was told that those who attempted the escape are those awaiting trial. I was told that there are so many of them awaiting trial. This is not good for us.”

Umahi directed the state  Director of Prisons, Adaobi Oputa, to compile such cases and send to him to enable him put head together with the state’s Chief Judge, Justice Aloy Nwankwo, to fast-track  justice.

He decried the level of infrastructure decay in the Abakiliki Prisons, saying such was not good for the inmates. Noting that the structures were built in the 1960s, he promised to partner the prisons authorities to modernise the facility.

“Ebonyi State Government could suspend one or two things and would want to at least de-roof some of the buildings and re-roof them,” he promised.

The governor also said his administration would provide sporting  facilities in the prisons in order to keep inmates engaged.

Umahi  added, “Recreational and sporting facilities will be provided. I believe such things will engage those in the  prisons and keep them away of thinking of how to escape. When they are engaged, they will not have time to think about crimes. What we have here cannot reform anyone. It will rather hadden them. We have to reform them and reintegrate the good ones into our society.”

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Ebonyi Govt condemns stripping, battering of teenage girl

The Ebonyi State Government on Tuesday condemned the stripping and battering of a 14-year-old girl, Miss Uzoamaka Chukwu, by some people in Ohaozara Local Government Area.

The government, in a five-paragraph statement by Emma Anya, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor David Umahi, said  it had directed the police command to ensure that all the perpetrators, be they political appointees or not, were properly investigated with a view to bringing those guilty to justice.

The statement reads:

Ebonyi State Government condemns in totality, the inhuman treatment meted out to a minor, Miss Uzoamaka, Chukwu, by some people in Ohoazara LGA.

The Government encourages the state police command to ensure a thorough investigation of the incident and bring to book, the suspects, some of whom are already in detention.

Governor David Umahi, 

Governor David Umahi will not in any way condone the violation of the rights of any Ebonyian, especially minors, by anyone be he in government or private sector.

The pollicisation of this pitiful situation cannot benefit the little girl concerned nor the politicians parading her on national media. The naked images of the child splashed on newspaper pages are utterly condemnable.

Government has already taken action to locate the minor in order to ensure that she is properly rehabilitated and made to overcome the trauma she has passed through.

Emma Anya

Chief Press Secretary to the Governor.

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