speech:No One is Left Behind and Nothing is Left Untouched:Resurrecting Buried Dreams

By

Rt. Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri

Executive Governor

Adamawa State

A Speech Delivered at the Flag-off of the upgrade  and completion of the Dumne Cottage Hospital, Dumne, Song LGA, Adamawa State – Nigeria, Tuesday, 24th- August, 2021

Protocols,

With immense gratitude to God, I feel highly delighted to be here in Dumne – the cradle of the good people of Yungur extraction, to formally flag-off the upgrading and completion of the Dumne Cottage Hospital. This is a project that has lingered-on since the ground breaking in 1981. Living a project of this nature almost buried for 40 years is nothing short of a collective embarrassment however charitable we want to qualify it. It becomes more embarrassing when one considers the central role the project is expected to play in the lives and livelihood of our people. It is a time-tested truth that health is wealth. A healthy people, is a wealthy people. This is what informed our decision to place the health of our people on the top priority list of our 11 Point Agenda as an administration. Today, we are constructing over Seven Cottage Hospitals and rehabilitating and renovating all the General Hospitals across the State. This policy is a carefully crafted road map, aimed at providing unhindered access to healthcare services for our people. It is also strategically aimed at shortening the needless distances between our Primary Health Care Centers and the Secondary Health Facilities in the State, in case of referrals and to decongest the Tertiary health facilities which are in short supply and most importantly, distant and costly for our people.

The Dumne Cottage Hospital, is one project I and my administration are not only committed, but eager to complete. Apart from the Toungo electrification project which we joyously delivered on, early in the year, no project is as emotive as this since the creation of the defunct Gongola State.  Its history is truly touching. I personally can’t imagine how a project of this nature and all its expected impact can be converted into conduit pipe for financial manipulation and legal shenanigans for too long at the detriment of our people. More offensive is the fact that it has been abandoned to die painfully in the face of its helpless beneficiaries. This indeed is the height of irresponsibility which our administration is dedicated to reversing with an ordered speed. 

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, while commissioning the various projects in our Urban Renewal and Rural Development Campaign, sometime this year, I made a pledge that we are committed to ensuring that we have an Adamawa State where no one is left behind and nothing is left untouched. This is part of the fulfilment of that pledge. We shall break new grounds and even resurrect and inject new lives into dead dreams. There is indeed, nothing impossible for a leadership and a people committed to good vision. All that is required is the trust to deliver.  We have to collectively break the chain that tie us to an ugly past, so that we can unlock the opportunities that would propel us to a greater future.   

The Dumne Cottage Hospital is a Sixty-bed capacity project with all the trappings of a modern Secondary Health Care facility.  Considering today’s economic realities, the contract for the upgrade and completion of the Dumne Cottage Hospital project is awarded at the sum of Two Hundred and Eighty Million Naira (₦280,000,000).  We have carefully selected the contractors, five in number, to handle the project through a thorough process in line with extant procurement laws. To fast-track the completion period, the contract is awarded to multiple contractors to work on different segments of the project at the same time; this is to ensure timely delivery within the period of six (6) months with the right standard and quality. What this means is that, we are due to return to this point, by the grace of God, all things being equal, in the next Six months to commission this project to the glory of God and the use of our people. 

On this note, let me use this medium to appreciate the good people of Dumne and the environs for the love, solidarity and support demonstrated to my person and the administration. You overwhelming voted for us in 2019. I hope you continue to see the compelling reasons as to why that decision was right. I therefore seize this opportunity to remind you that the country is preparing for another moment of decision making. INEC has commenced its Continuous Voters’ registration exercise across the country, if you are not registered, please cease the moment and ensure you are registered. Your vote is your decision tool. 

I also want to thank you for the gift of your sons and daughters to work with in this administration. I am eternally grateful and proud to work with the Head of Service – Dr. Amos Edgar, the Commissioner of Rural Infrastructure and Community Development – Mallam Abudullahi Prambe, my good friend whom you elected to represent you at the State House of Assembly – Hon. Simon Isa and many others who are in the service, oiling the wheels of our policy drive in changing the narratives in the State. They are indeed, valuable assets to the State and among my strong pillars and trusted allies. Let me also quickly add that they are highly concerned about you and the overall progress of Adamawa State. 

As a government, we are not sleeping on our obligations to you at all times. We shall continue to invest our thoughts, energy and resources to your development, peace and security.  I call on everyone to live in peace as we strive to ensure that No one is left Behind and Nothing is left untouched. 

Thank you and God bless us all.