Attaining SDGs Requires FG, States Partnership, Says Diri

·         Inaugurates Hospital, School, and Skills Projects

Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has said collaboration between the states and Federal Government will facilitate the attaining of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Diri stated this during the inauguration of a 100-bed mother and child hospital built through a partnership between the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on SDGs, Dr. (Mrs.) Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire and the state SDGs office at Azikoro Town in Yenagoa.

In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Daniel Alabrah, he noted that no government could function in isolation without the support of the other and commended President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the health facility in the state.

He said the project, Dr Aisha Buhari Mother and Child Hospital, would address infant and maternal mortality, adding that although the state had a similar facility, it had to be converted into a COVID-19 centre during the peak of the pandemic.

Diri expressed the hope that the facility would be beneficial to the people of the state, describing it as one of the fruitful results of the state’s collaboration with the federal government.

He commended the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs for ensuring the completion of the edifice.

His words: “There is no level of government that can stand alone. The Federal Government needs the states just as the states need the Federal Government. So, when we partner, we are going to address a lot of the sustainable development goals.

“This is not the first mother and child hospital in the state. Chevron built a similar facility at Bayelsa Medical University, but during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to convert it to a COVID-19 hospital. Since then, we have needed to provide for our mothers and children until this opportunity came and we grabbed it.

“Even when the temptation came for me to site this project in my community, l looked at the indices of the population and its proximity to our mothers and I said it must be domiciled in Yenagoa.”

Diri pointed out that the facility would benefit the Bayelsa people, adding: “In fact, for me, this is one of the best things that have happened to us as a state, but like Oliver Twist, we look forward to more collaborations for greater development. Now our women and children have a place for safe delivery. They will no longer patronise traditional practitioners but take modern treatments and medicines.

“The facility is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment you can find anywhere in the world. That is why I am very happy. Please express our appreciation to the President for this collaborative effort and for doing this for our mothers and the children.”

Earlier, Orelope-Adefulire appreciated the president for providing the necessary support that ensured collaboration with the Bayelsa State government, which facilitated the projects under the SDGs.

She also commended Diri for supporting, cooperating and implementing SDGs in the state, adding that the hospital has been equipped with an ultra-scan room, an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for children and mothers and laboratories, among other facilities.

In his remarks, the State Focal Person and Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on SDGs, Dr. Ebiwari Wariowei, thanked Diri for providing the state’s counterpart funding for all SDGs projects and programmes, which according to him, has so far amounted to N3.5 billion.

Other projects inaugurated were two blocks of furnished 24 classrooms at the Government Science and Technical College at Okaka, a skills acquisition and entrepreneurial centre and two blocks of 24 classrooms at Sampou.