President Goodluck Jonathan has sited a College of Health Sciences and University Teaching Hospital at Akwete-Akpa, Otukpo, Benue State. Akwete-Akpa is the hometown of the Senate President, Senator David Mark.
The groundbreaking ceremony was performed today on behalf of President Jonathan by Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo.
The President acknowledged that the project is the baby of the Senate President that will not only provide the country with the much needed manpower in the health sector, but would bring world class healthcare delivery services to the people.
He said that the PDP administration recognizes the fact that healthy citizens translate to higher life expectancy, more productivity and greater development, saying: “the choice of this location for the Teaching Hospital was informed by the need to bring this level of health services closer to the people without having to travel long distances to access the services.
“This Teaching Hospital being established today, when fully operational, shall offer tertiary health services to the good people of Benue State, its catchment areas and the Nation in general. Moreover, I am excited at the prospects of the high-level manpower this institution will produce for the country in various specialised fields of health in the years to come.”
President Jonathan particularly thanked the people of Akwete-Akpa for the provision of the 600 hectares of land for the construction of the health institutions of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, which he noted had the necessary facilities to accommodate the new campus.
The President gave his commitment to continue to provide quality healthcare services to Nigerians through adequate service delivery, the provision of critical infrastructure and human capacity development.
The Senate President, David Mark, said the event was of unique importance to him even as he appreciated the President and appealed to the people to cooperate with the contractors and project managers to ensure the speedy completion of the projects. The Benue state Governor, Gabriel Suswam described President Jonathan as a silent achiever, who had done well for the people of Benue.
He emphasized that the project was a PDP project, conceived by PDP government.
In their separate remarks, the Minister of Health, Dr. Khaliru Alhassan, the Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Morro, the Chairman of the Presidential Implementation Committee, Professor E. E. Okpere and the Pro-Chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Chief Chike Udenze, commended the project which they said will stem medical tourism, provide the much needed manpower and create more jobs for the people.
When completed, the project will bring to 21 the number of teaching hospitals in the country. The project was approved in year 2014 by the President and it is a partnership between the University, the Federal Ministries of Health and Education as well as the National Universities Commission (NUC), and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).
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