A one-time supervisor for Finance in Awgu local government area of Enugu state, Hon. Arthur Okolie has expressed his satisfaction towards the current Health supervisor of the Same local government, Hon. Nkeiru Okafor. 

Hon. Okafor, had taken to an inspectional tour of all the Primary health care facilities situated in the local Government Area, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

A tour that will acclamatize the honourable with the state of the Primary health institutions available in Awgu. Moreso, expose her to the understanding of the challenges being faced in such Establishments, which includes; being understaffed, unavailability of necessary drugs, lack of equipments etc.

He made this known in a press statement presented to the media, tagged, MAKING USE OF THE COVID-19 SITUATION TO AN ADVANTAGE.

According to Okolie, this progressive initiative is exceptional and commendable

Continuing, he Commended the executive governor of Enugu for taking priorities to the secondary health care facilities, which delivers the opportunity of concentration of the Health centers by the local government.

Recall, that Hon. Arthur had written to the youths in a previous letter. He admonished them to avoid any manner of destructive politicking at this point. In his terms, “this is a time to support our elected leaders and allow them deliver their individual mandates without any manner of instigation.”

He however, hopes that this particular tour will birth several constructive benefits, such as an avenue to include these primary needs in the next budget.

The letter thus reads:

MAKING USE OF THE COVID-19 SITUATION TO AN ADVANTAGE

For some days now since last week we have seen a progressive effort made  by the  Supervisor for  Health Awgu LGA, *Hon Nkeiru okafor* touring primary healthcare facilities in Awgu LGA, this initiative is good and commendable.

The visit I believe is going to bring out  the true situation of our primary health centres in terms of staffing, drugs availability, deplorable nature of our health facilities at the rural level.

These statistics like number of staff in each health centres, how they procure drugs, the facilities available for the healthcare providers to work with should be documented which will form the standard to help the council  balance the staffs in each health centres and also improve on drug procurements.

It will also help the local government to develope a policy plan on how to tackle some of them by capturing it in the next year’s budget if it was  not  adequately taken care of in the already running budget of the council.

These health facilities is the closest health institution to the people at the grassroot and positive efforts should be made in putting them in proper shape, this is why I am particularly happy about this tour by the supervisor for health.

Health is wealth and most people at the rural areas cannot afford to access healthcare at the secondary health facilities due to cost and distance in most cases.

Thank God that the Executive Governor of Enugu state Rt. Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi is taking up the issue of fixing our secondary health care institutions. It leaves the Government at the local level to face the issue of health centres squarely. So the tour is timely and in right direction. I hope the council Will Make use of the report that she is going to turn out so that it will not be a wasted effort.

The supervisor should also apart from this tour selectively embark on  the spot visit to monitor how the workers attend to the local people and their punctuality at work.

One is not expecting the council to fix all these health facilities ones but an intervention in some will be a plus for a focused Government.

Hopefully we expect to see another round of visit when some of these facilities visited now will be rehabilitated and equipped to the admiration of all.

It is also important for the council to call on our people both in Government and in private business to assist Government in this direction by intervening in their respective community health centres. Our Govt officials both at the national and state can as well be called upon to support the efforts of local government in this direction.

Govt officials people should visit health centers in their communities and ask questions and help as much as they can because Government alone cannot do it.

Let us hope that this intervention is captured in the council’s budget adequately.

Similarly, other supervisors in the council should take a cue from this Noble step taking by the supervisor for health and embark on their own fact finding tour. For example this is the period of farming, the supervisor for Agriculture should be able to visit all Agricultural posts in Awgu LGA, liase with the Executive chairman and provide the Agric inputs like fertilizer to Farmers at this period, the refurbished tractors should be deployed to work now for our rural farmers. The time for it’s useage is now.

The supervisor for Education should also visit all primary schools and take statistics of staffs and other  facilities and advice Govt appropriately. It will be an eye opener that some school don’t have up to 5 teachers while some will have as many as 20 teachers in their schools.

Finally the supervisor for finance should visit markets and  other revenue points inorder to advice Govt on the viability of each one in terms of revenue generation  for it’s upgrading.

The activities of Government is a team work for the collective interest of all.The people of Awgu LGA should rise above selfish interests, distractions and support Government and those in leadership position to provide quality leadership and Governance for the people.

Once more I sincerely thank the supervisor for Health for this positive step forward.we all Look forward  to see the benefits of this visit which the covid-19 break provided.

Hon. Arthur Okolie can be contacted via his Email address :
Name: Arthur okolie
Former supervisor for finance ,
Email: arthurokolie600@gmail.com