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The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, on Tuesday said his regular donations to nursing schools in various parts of the country have no political inclination.
Obi made this clarification at the St Philomena Nursing School in Benin City, where he donated a sum of N15 million, stating that he has been making the donation since he was governor of Anambra State.
Nurses are essential in the health sector, and Nigeria needs to train more nurses to meet the health needs of the people.
Obi also challenged the federal government to invest in primary health care, saying a country like Indonesia, which was at a development par with Nigeria at some point, has a primary health centre in every village with three nurses and doctors visiting every other day.
According to him, “We are investing in you for our own better living. We’re not dashing you anything.
“Here is a country where if you go to all the villages around, there is no primary health care. If I go to another country that is comparable to Nigeria, called Indonesia, which I visited because I read a book called Growing Apart, where two countries went different ways, one went this way, the other one went down, and I went there. They have over 90% medical insurance coverage.
“Every village in Indonesia has a primary healthcare centre manned by two or three nurses, and doctors come every other day so they have proper care. We don’t have it here.
“Nurses are needed all over the world; you are one of those rare commodities that are needed all over the world. I went to a hospital in Germany, and all the first three nurses that I met said they are from Nigeria.
“Let me tell you, I’ve always been in care, even before I entered politics. I was in Afghanistan when things were difficult there; I was in Rwanda as a sitting governor. I went to President Jonathan and took permission from him to go to Haiti when they had an earthquake because I want to build where things are difficult. So it has nothing to do with politics. I can tell you that most places where I go, they don’t even vote. I go to over 60 nursing schools annually.
“I chose to come because we need to invest in the future of these children.” (Vanguard)
