President Bola Tinubu on Friday commissioned new health facilities and tertiary education infrastructure across all six geopolitical zones of the country as part of activities marking the third anniversary of his administration.
He also vowed to provide Nigerians with quality healthcare comparable to what many seek abroad.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed this in a statement signed on Friday, describing it as the largest single-day commissioning of federal health investments in Nigeria’s history.
Tinubu also commissioned a series of TETFund-funded education projects spanning four institutions in the North Central, North-West and North-East.
The commissioning, conducted through a combination of physical and virtual ceremonies across multiple states, covered a specialist hospital complex in Abuja, a nationwide emergency ambulance fleet, three polio emergency operations centres, primary healthcare centres in Kano and Delta states, three tertiary hospital projects, a mental health centre in Maiduguri, an immunisation supply chain hub in Lagos and four education infrastructure projects in Nasarawa, Kaduna, Jigawa and Bauchi states.
In Abuja, the President, who is currently in Lagos, virtually inaugurated the Bola Tinubu Specialist Complex at the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, a two-storey facility built for integrated specialist and VIP healthcare.
The facility comprises eight consulting rooms, twin theatre suites, dedicated ophthalmology and ENT departments, a fully equipped laboratory, a pharmacy, nine VIP wards, four general wards and a private and VIP clinic.
At the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare headquarters, Tinubu flagged off the National Emergency Medical Service and Ambulance System Emergency Response Fleet, described as the largest single-day deployment of emergency medical transport in the country’s history.
The fleet comprises 145 tricycle ambulances, six boat ambulances and 79 brand-new emergency ambulances for federal tertiary hospitals, along with 45 laptops, 20 printers and 320 mobile phones to support a digital coordination platform.
The fleet will operate under the SAVEMAMA programme to deliver emergency obstetric and newborn care to riverine, rural and hard-to-reach communities.
Later, at the Lekki-Epe Expressway in Lagos, the President flagged off a fleet of Compressed Natural Gas-powered ambulances for all 73 federal tertiary health facilities in the country, delivered under the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative.
The CNG ambulances are expected to significantly lower fuel costs for federal tertiary facilities, reduce emissions and strengthen the referral architecture linking secondary and tertiary hospitals.
In the North-West, three state Polio Emergency Operations Centres in Katsina, Kano and Sokoto states were commissioned.
Originally established in 2013 with support from the Gates Foundation and managed by eHealth Africa, the three centres have been expanded, renovated and re-equipped to strengthen coordination of immunisation, disease surveillance and outbreak response.
The Kano centre is located at Muhammad Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital, Nassarawa; the Katsina centre at the SPHCDA premises on Murtala Muhammed Way; and the Sokoto centre at the Epidemiology Unit of the Specialist Hospital on Sultan Abubakar Road.
Also in Kano State, the President commissioned the newly constructed Gadon Kaya Primary Health Centre in Gwale Local Government Area, built under the World Bank-supported IMPACT Project, which has revitalised nearly 3,000 primary healthcare centres across the country over the last two years.
In Delta State, the Aboh Primary Health Centre in Ndokwa East Local Government Area was commissioned under the same IMPACT programme.
In the South-West, Tinubu commissioned the Lagos Immunisation Supply Chain Hub at the Federal Medical Stores in Oshodi as the first completed facility under Nigeria’s new Three-Hub Immunisation Supply Chain Model, designed to serve the South-West and South-South zones.
In the North-East, he commissioned the Mental Health and Drug Rehabilitation Centre at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, a 50-bed specialist facility built to serve patients with psychological and drug-related conditions in a region heavily affected by conflict-related trauma.
Three tertiary hospital projects were also commissioned by the President.
They include the new two-storey Laboratory Complex at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital in Akwa Ibom State, housing 16 dedicated laboratories, seminar rooms, a library and staff offices; the new Administrative Complex at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu State; and the new Pharmacy Quality Control Laboratory at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Shika, Zaria, operating through microbiology, chemistry and instrumentation units in compliance with British and United States Pharmacopoeia specifications.
The Ministry of Health said that under the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, nearly 3,000 primary healthcare centres have been revitalised, 27 Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care sites established, and 1,602 Level 1 and 1,360 Level 2 health facilities revitalised across the six geopolitical zones in the past two years.
“We are determined to give Nigerians the kind of care that, for too long, only those who could travel abroad enjoyed,” the President said during the virtual commissioning.
“From the rivers of the Delta to the streets of Lagos, from rural Sokoto to tertiary Maiduguri, our emergency response system must work as one. Today, we put another major piece of that system in place,” he added.
On education, Tinubu commissioned four tertiary institution projects delivered by the Ministry of Education under the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.
At the Nasarawa State College of Education, Akwanga, the President inaugurated the newly built School of Science Complex, a two-storey facility housing conventional reading areas, dedicated staff and student e-libraries, the Chief Librarian’s office and reference sections, designed to strengthen the college’s capacity to train science teachers across Nasarawa State.
At the Nigerian Defence Academy in Afaka, Kaduna State, Tinubu commissioned two flagship projects.
They include the remodelled Senate Building, featuring a 60-seat Senate Council Chamber, twin conference suites, executive offices, full lift installation, CCTV and access control, a public address and evacuation system, integrated fire suppression and a solar backup power system with lithium battery storage; and the new Biodiversity and Conservation Centre, which will strengthen the academy’s environmental science research and biodiversity documentation capacity.
At Hussaini Adamu Federal Polytechnic, Kazaure, Jigawa State, a new classroom complex was commissioned under the TETFund 2024 Special High Impact Intervention, aimed at addressing the shortage of classroom space at the institution.
At Sa’adu Zungur University, Gadau Campus, Bauchi State, the President commissioned a newly constructed students’ hostel delivered at a contract sum of N738,964,701.34 over 48 weeks, expected to ease accommodation pressure on the expanding campus.
He said, “When you build a classroom, you build a generation. The investment we are making in our colleges of education, polytechnics and universities today will determine the quality of every Nigerian schoolchild for decades to come.
“Our polytechnics are the engine room of Nigeria’s technical workforce. We will continue to invest in their classrooms, their laboratories and their staff.
“The skills our economy needs will not come from lecture theatres alone. They will come from hands trained in real workshops,” he added.
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