Nigerians in Canada donate hospital equipment

Agency Reporter

Equipment worth millions of dollars such as hospital beds, consumables, specialised wheel chairs, scanners, incubators and others have been donated to the Federal Medical Centre, Bida by the Nigerian Association for Young Adults (NAYA) in Canada and USA,

Its President, Shola Agboola, explained the gesture was to lift healthcare services in the nation.

He called on Nigerians to contribute meaningfully to the sector because government cannot do it alone.

He further said that the equipment is the second this year, coming on the heels of equipment worth N54 million earlier donated to the Abia State government.

NAYA, according to him, has donated equipment worth over $440 million to different hospitals in the country so far.

While noting that members of NAYA are passionate about Nigeria, Agboola states that they have learnt from their host country, Canada, that to make a nation great, is not the duty of government alone.

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Niger Governor Abubakar Sani Bello while commending the group for the efforts, revealed his administration had declared a state of emergency in the health sector.

Represented by Commissioner for Health, Dr. Makusidi Mohammed, the governor stated that the state government has over the years striven to ensure that the state budget for the sector matches what is on ground, even as it called for more of such collaborations in the state.

Also speaking at the event, His Eminence, Archbishop Samson Mustapha Benjamin, who facilitated the NAYA efforts in Nigeria, commended the Etsu Nupe, HRH (Dr) Yahaya Abubakar, whom he said facilitated the clearance and movement of the equipment from the ports down to Bida, making it seamless, compared to previous experiences.

Benjamin, who is also the President of Africa Economic Initiative, noted that NAYA works tirelessly to impact Nigeria, and that the group needs support and collaboration from everyone, as they plan to make more of such donations, in other parts of the country, to improve general healthcare delivery system.

Senior Adviser to the President on Diaspora and Foreign Affairs, Abike Dabiri, who was represented by her Personal Assistant on ICT, Hon Tarab Abdulrahman,declared that the government had established an Act to encourage Nigerian living abroad to make meaningful contributions to the nation.

She noted, that NAYA was one of the most active among diaspora groups and encouraged them to continue the gesture, even as she urged the FMC, Bida to make good use of the equipment donated.