By Mmaduabuchi Onwumelu
The Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has joined other well-meaning Ndi Anambra to commend the Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Programme, Phase One (ATASP-1) for making great impacts in rural communities in Anambra State.
Governor Soludo made the commendation during the official commissioning of a world class hospital built by ATASP-1 at Ogbunka Community in Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State recently.
The governor, represented by the Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Forster Ihejiofor, described ATASP-1, an Agricultural Sector Development Intervention Programme, set up by the Federal Government, with funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB), as an important partner in the efforts of the state government to tackle hunger, unemployment and insecurity.
He commended the management of ATASP-1 for investing billions of Naira into infrastructure that supported large scale modern farming, agro-processing and improved standard of living for rural farmers.
‘The truth is, when they brought the hospital equipment, I sent an engineer who is knowledgeable in hospital equipment to examine what was supplied, to ensure it matched the specifications listed in the bid, and I am here attesting to the fact that this clinic is equipped to the global standard of a cottage hospital. A lot of things can be done here,’ he stated.
He further disclosed that health care workers, especially nurses, would be posted to the hospital to provide services to people from the community and other neighbouring communities.
‘We will liaise with the Ministry of Health to upgrade the staffing of the health centre to ensure that people from the neighbouring towns like Ufuma, Nawfija, Inyi, Owerri-Ezukalla, and so on, also take advantage of the facilities here for their medical treatment,’ he stressed.
Also in his speech at the occasion, the chairman of Orumba South Transition Committee Chairman, Prince Neville Uchendu, praised ATASP-1 for providing such world class hospital for rural farmers in Ogbunka and environs.
‘I want to thank the ATASP-1 team in a special way. You are doing wonderfully well because they don’t say what you did not do.
‘When the equipment for this hospital was offloaded, those that I sent to inspect it said that most general hospitals did not have the kind of equipment supplied at this clinic.
‘The kind of equipment brought to this hospital is what Governor Chukwuma Soludo is preaching about because he does not joke with anything that concerns the health and wellbeing of Ndi-Anambra,’ he said, while assuring that the council would also liaise with the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders to ensure that qualified health workers were posted to the hospital, as well as security of the facility.
Earlier in his speech, the Zonal Programme Coordinator of ATASP-1, Adani-Omor Zone, Dr. Romanus Egba, expressed joy that the hospital was finally commissioned to provide healthcare services to farmers in the area.
He disclosed that the programme had supported farmers in select communities such as Ogbunka with the supply of improved variety of cassava cuttings (seeds), trainings on Good Agronomics Practices (GAPs) but that he felt the need to provide social/ancillary infrastructure facilities like hospital, water, schools, markets that enhanced their wellbeing and income generation.
‘ATASP-1 discovered that farmers need certain social and economic infrastructure to improve on their productivity. And that access to quality healthcare enhances productivity. That is why we decided to build hospitals in communities that lack them, so that farmers can easily be taken care of when sick. It’s only when their condition requires specialist treatment that they can be referred to a general or specialist hospital.
He said that Ogbunka was the only community under ATASP-1 where government built water boreholes and hospitals at the same place;even as he urged stakeholders in the community to make good use of the facilities.
‘This hospital and water borehole built here present an opportunity for farmers in Ogbunka and neighbouring communities to enjoy good health and improved productivity.
‘So, we expect that the facilities be maintained and utilized,’ Egba stressed, while adding that the programme was ready to train and support more farmers, especially youths, on cassava and sorghum production.
Mr. Gabriel Orie, the Chairman of Ogbunka Farmers’ Cooperative under ATASP-1, praised ATASP-1 for transforming the lives of cassava farmers in Ogbunka through input support and trainings on modern farming techniques and food processing, especially how to use cassava flour to produce confectionaries. He also described the commissioning of Ogbunka Hospital as a turning point in their lives, as farmers in the area would no longer travel long distances to seek medical attention.
He pledged the readiness of the community leaders to make good use of the facility.
Other community leaders who spoke at the occasion took turns to praise ATASP-1 for providing such a standard cottage hospital at Ogbunka.
