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By Tunde Omolehin
Eight years ago, precisely 29th May, 2015, Rr. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal was given the mandate to serve as the 6th Executive Governor of Sokoto state, after a successful completion of a Speakership role in the seventh National Assembly.
His promoters to be the Governor of the state might have seen many wonders of both human developments he performed within the space of four years as the Speaker, House of Representatives. As a governor, Tambuwal has continued to make history as the first governor to initiate several legacy projects in the seat of the Caliphate.
Like the late Premier and Sardauna of Sokoto, Ahmadu Bello who backboned for the development of the Northern region and laid many legacies that still stand the test of time. Tambuwal’s tremendous achievements in Sokoto state are unparalleled. His imprints in healthcare reform were so unprecedented to many.
The Governor has earned for himself the first governor to build many infrastructural projects across the state. In the health sector, the Governor made an outstanding contribution to the healthcare reform system. One of them is the establishment of State University Teaching Hospital with the sole objective of boosting healthcare management in the state.
He did not stop there, Tambuwal is also the first governor to build three Premier Hospitals in three Senatorial Districts of the state and first to build Ultra Modern Stadium, and Advanced Medical Diagnostics Center. All within the space of his tenures.
Like the saying goes; “the greatest wealth is health.” This saying explains without overstating the fact, the indispensability of a good health system in entrenching development in all fields of human endeavor. It cannot therefore, be disputed, adequate expenditure on health gingers up economies, ensures job creation and enables productivity.
Conversely, a poor health system retards productivity and blocks job prospects, with negative effects on human capital development. The total overhaul on the onset of the Specialist Hospital Sokoto clearly indicates the commitment of the administration to the provision of excellent health care services to the people in the state and even beyond. In the rejuvenation work, affected sections of the hospital include Trauma and OPD (Outpatient Department)
Here, the structural buildings were expanded and beautified to wear a new look. There is also the provision of modern equipment to the sections and the hospital generally to complement the existing units: Blood Transfusion Centre; Renal/Cardiac Centre, established by the current administration to deal with kidney and heart-related diseases.
The Centre for Nephrology and Urology also set up in the hospital in collaboration with Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital has made it easy for Sokoto residents to diagnose related to urethra- male reproductive organs and fertility and urinary bladder.
The resolve of the Tambuwal administration to guarantee better health for the citizenry that promptly responds to situations is the motivation for setting up the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Amanawa in Dange Shuni LGA. The hospital attends to diseases that are mostly contagious and airborne in conditions that cater for the comfort of the patients.
The administration reintroduced the Community Midwifery System, an initiative that provides for the training of midwives and traditional birth attendants to serve at community level. This is aimed at reducing maternal, infant and child mortality in the society.
Provision of comprehensive health care to patients as well as making available to them other public health services requires the all-encompassing approach of improving on all aspects of health care service delivery to the populace.
This informed the determination of the administration to embark on the upgrading, renovation and equipping of all the Primary Health Centres across the 23 local government areas of Sokoto State.
The establishment of the State Contributory Health Care Management Agency (SOCHEMA), an agency to execute the initiative of sharing the ownership of health care services to all stakeholders, including communities, through a contributory process to cater for those in need of medical attention, especially the disadvantaged.
The Tambuwal administration has gone good miles further to grant one hundred million Naira as takeoff fund to ensure it runs its activities effectively. Its impact is envisaged, on not just the residents of Sokoto State but also patients from other states and countries, in need of medical diagnosis. This is the driving force behind the conceptualization of the world class Sokoto Advanced Medical Diagnostics Centre by the Tambuwal administration.
Inaugurated on Wednesday, December 1, 2021 by the Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, the Diagnostics Centre is unquestionably the first public health facility of its kind in the whole of the north west region of the country. It’s a first rate health investment project actualized by a personality that is well aware of Nigeria, its people and has a craving for its unity.
The major goal of the Centre is ‘seamless healthcare service delivery’ on complex cases of diagnosis that take Nigerians outside the nation’s boundaries for medical tourism. With relatively affordable charges that will attract nationwide and global patronage, the Diagnostics Centre is also envisaged to serve as a fountain of unity.
Although the status of the Centre as a life changing project has settled in the Nigerian society, it should be noted that the architect of such a noble initiative – governor Tambuwal, who was onetime Speaker of the House of Representatives- is inspired by a vision of a unified and cohesive Nigeria to carry out the project.
The push for the Tambuwal led administration to carry out this gigantic legacy project is the maxim that ‘health is wealth’. The ideal is to take a far reaching step that will impact positively on all aspects of development in Sokoto State. This is the role of the Sokoto State University Teaching Hospital (SOSUTH).
The Tambuwal administration’s objective for this mega project is to address the need for training for medical personnel in the state. This will also provide the required manpower to address the persistent dearth of health personnel in various health facilities across the state. The multi-billion Naira project has a 1,200 bed capacity, which is the largest in west Africa.
The facility is a world class teaching hospital using cutting edge technology and highly skilled human resources that would render excellent services and train doctors, as well as other professionals to serve the people of Sokoto State, Nigeria and west Africa as a region.
The teaching hospital is linked to three 150- bed capacity new premier hospitals, one in each senatorial district of the state. Being constructed at Binji, Sabon Birni, and Tambuwal local government areas, they will be referring patients from the rural areas to bigger hospitals in the state.
The multi-billion Naira, SOSUTH project, which is expected to be completed soon, is awarded to a reputable indigenous company in the state, Calder Construction Company is built on a mass landscape covering 44.096 hectares.
If completed, the teaching hospital would accommodate no fewer than 1,200-beds, 17 clinics, 258 offices, 220 cylinder/medical grade gas filling plant, 3 amenity wards, a Dialysis center, a Central sewage system, a Modern standard theaters, a Hybrid solar & inverter power supply system, Visiting doctors lodge, NYSC members lodge, Kitchen Apartment and Administration block.
Other features include VIP wards, an Auditorium, Gate house and fence, VVIP wards, Trauma ward, Trauma clinic, Casualty clinic, GOPD, physiotherapy, state-of-art Pharmacy, Radiology and Spacious parking lots among others.
The Tambuwal administration is also engaged in the construction of primary health care centers in Limani and Sabon Garin Dole, in Goronyo local government, Araba in Illela local government, Dingyadi in Bodinga local government and Salame in Gwadabawa local government areas which cost the government the sum of N282,284,578
Another giant stride is the upgrading of Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) at Sabon Birni in Sabon Birni local government, Balle in Gudu, Dange in Dange shuni and Kware in Kware local government areas, to the status of General Hospitals which has gulped N585,287,608.
The establishment of the Healthcare Financing and Medical Tourism Development Unit is another bold step towards rejuvenating health care services in the state, by the health friendly Administration of Governor Tambuwal, under whose charge, Sokoto is rated as the best performing state in Nigeria in 2016 under the National Logistic Supply Chain Integrated Programme.
The Emergency Response Team (ERT) and introduction of Central Ambulance Service in Sokoto State is another key strategy for fine-tuning the activities of the state’s health care sector.
Other gains of the Tambuwal government for health care in the state include the renovation and expansion of the State Central Medical Store at Runjin Sambo, Sokoto, one of the best in the Northern part of the country, in addition to providing sponsorship for 31 students to study medical courses in foreign schools.
In addition, is the recruitment of 1049 medical and health workers to boost the state manpower in the health sector, more especially in rural areas. In the area of immunization, over 1,000,000 children have received free Vitamin A Supplement Plus another 276,483 children de-wormed in two years, while 18,881 pregnant women received Iron Fersolate in the state. Also covered were 350 VVF patients treated at the Women and Children Hospital, Sokoto.
The State Eye Care Unit of the Ministry of Health has treated and operated on 5,662 cataract and other related ailments patients, who have been issued free medicaments by the State Government. In the same vein, the unit has succeeded in the treatment of another set of 59,853 patients screened and treated free for various eye related diseases across the state.
An additional 683 of patients have undergone successful plastic surgeries to re-figure their faces hitherto ravaged by cancrum oris, while 859,791 people, between ages of 20 and 30 have been immunized against cerebro-spinal meningitis in the state within two years.
Other achievements are the circumcision of 1798 children free of charge in the 2016 circumcision season, immunization of 4,000,000 children against the six child killer diseases in the state in two years and the passing in to law by the state legislature of the Primary Healthcare Law and the implementation of the PHC Under-One-Roof policy.
Consequently, since the inception of the administration in 2015, it set the pace in health care delivery by building a world class health care system in line with international best practices. To achieve the objective, the state government has sustained adequate budgetary allocation to the sector, which is the second priority area of the administration after education.
The provision of quality health care services across the length and breadth of the state is set on three fundamental pillars that include community participation, community engagement, and community ownership. These pillars form the basis for effective health care delivery. There is also the provision of a functional health facility in each of the 244 wards in the state. These giant strides by the health care loving governor Tambuwal were aimed at guaranteeing affordable health care services in the nooks and crannies of the state.
The implementation of the Primary Health Care Under One Roof Policy has brought together all 756 health facilities across the state under the State Primary Health Care Agency for easy management and effective utilization of their services at the grass root.
The strengthening of the Government Inspectorate Services, and participation of Sokoto State in the SAVING ONE MILLION LIVES Program of the Federal Ministry of Health, which oversees maternal and child health issues in some selected states in the federation puts the state in the first position with Kano state, in ranking under the policy.
Consequently, the Implementation of the N2 billion 2016 work plan with UNICEF towards enhancing education, health, hygiene and sanitation is another key strategic move by the state government to turn around the health sector in the state.
Another remarkable feat achieved by the State Government is the signing of a N2.8 billion MOU with UNICEF on the 2017 Workplan, whose implementation is already in progress, in addition to the renovation of Maryam Abacha Women and Children Hospital Sokoto. Under Tambuwal’s administration, citizens enjoyed free treatment for victims of road/industrial accidents at the State Trauma Centre, which is also being provided by the State Government.
In the Malaria Control Program, Tambuwal’s government, in collaboration with USAID, has distributed three million insecticide treated mosquito nets in all the twenty-three local government areas of the state. There are other numerous projects executed by the Tambuwal’s administration that would remain dearest in the hearts of many Sokoto people for many years to come.
Like the saying goes, ‘patience is not only the ability to wait but to keep a good attitude while waiting. These legacy projects of the Tambuwal administration is a testimony to the fact that he kept a good attitude while waiting for another call to serve the nation as he bowed-out the stewardship of Sokoto State.
