The Former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, has said that Nigeria would emerge great if leaders in the country serve with patriotism.
Speaking at the launch of Abia’s Formal Sector Health Insurance Scheme, Medical Outreach Programme and Distribution of Hearing Aids by the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation in Umuahia, Abia State capital, the former President asked the nation’s leaders to work for the people and not for themselves.
He commended the Abia governor, Dr Alex Otti for his healthcare policies and thanked him for prioritizing healthcare in the state. Obasanjo disclosed that healthcare delivery is what led to the establishment of his foundation.
“Healthcare security which is what we are doing here today and health for all is what led to my establishing the health insurance scheme.
“Nigeria is a potentially great nation, with people like you (Gov. Otti), we will achieve our potentials. So, we are here to launch the Abia State medical outreach and healthcare delivery for all. This is very important”, he declared.
On his foundation, Chief Obasanjo stated that one of the areas of interest of his foundation is hearing and that hearing impairment is not a stigma but could be developed as one gets old.
He used the opportunity to make a case for the authorities to train a handful of men who can handle hearing aids and its related challenges.
In his speech before launching the scheme at the event, Governor Alex Otti explained that it will provide accessible and affordable healthcare for Abia workers.
He stated that his vision for healthcare delivery is to build a system that is dynamic and responsive to the needs of the local population.
Reading from his prepared speech which he titled “BEYOND HEALTHCARE” Otti assured that nobody in the New Abia would be denied access to healthcare services for reasons of financial incapacity, maintaining that the launch of the triple-barrelled initiative would revolutionize service delivery and access to healthcare.
He said, “The formal sector health insurance scheme will see tens of thousands of civil servants and their dependants enrolled for round-the-clock qualitative healthcare services at designated healthcare facilities in every part of the State.
“This initiative is structured to drastically reduce out-of-pocket expenditure for individuals in the formal sector employment, cut down risks and hazards associated with self-medication and create demand for medical services in all the public health facilities in our urban and rural communities”.
According to him, the scheme would go beyond the provision of essential medical diagnostics and laboratory services to beneficiaries to offer surgical, orthopaedic, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology services to those that would enrol and ease the financial strain individuals and families pass through, especially in times of emergencies as well as cut down the incidence of maternal and neonatal mortalities.
The governor opined that his expectation is that employees in the various ministries, departments and agencies would take advantage of the initiative and programme.
On the objective of the medical outreach, the governor further revealed that the outreach is targeted at the poor and vulnerable and that it is programmed to abolish medical outreaches in open places while the launch of hearing aid would provide hearing aids to 1,000 individuals selected to benefit from the Mission.
“This particular project (medical outreach) is the first of its kind. This outreach will ultimately abolish the era of medical programmes and outreaches in open fields, market squares or in community halls.
“I would like to use this opportunity to reiterate the ban placed by the State Government on the use of public schools, markets, religious centres and other unauthorised locations for medical outreach.
“The Sound Intervention Hearing Mission would see the distribution of premium hearing aids and support systems to 1, 000 persons with hearing impairment, selected from different states and communities in the South East region,” he stated.
He commended former President Olusegun Obasanjo for the 2025 Sound Intervention Hearing Mission, a project sponsored by the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation in partnership with the Abia State Ministry of Health.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary, Abia State Health Insurance Agency, Dr. Chiedozie Egwuonwu had described the initiative as a testament to Governor Otti’s “unwavering commitment to providing affordable and quality healthcare to the people, particularly those in the public sector”.
The scheme, he stated, is designed to safeguard the health of government workers and their families, adding that, it would cover treatment for common healthcare and emergencies.
The event which attracted many dignitaries, featured a lecture on “Prevention of Hearing Loss, Changing Mindsets, Empowering Yourself Through Sound Intervention Hearing Mission, So that Nigerians May Hear”, was delivered by a Professor Emeritus of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Prof. Basil Ezeanolue, University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN).
The highlight of the event was the provision of hearing aids to some beneficiaries.
