Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar yesterday blamed lack of visionary leadership for Nigeria’s underdevelopment.
Quoting reports from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other world health bodies, the former vice president described the health sector as far below standard.
Atiku, who stated this while delivering his speech as the chairman of the 3rd Progressives Governance Lecture Series of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held in Owerri, the Imo State capital, with the theme “Dealing with the challenge of building a physically healthy nation through preventive, protective and innovative Medicare”, noted that it was made worse by the federal government.
“Our health sector is far below WHO standard, far below in the world, this is a shame on the nation”, Atiku said.
He pointed out that the federal government must agree on a health standard for its citizens in order to find solutions to the problems posed by it. He also tasked the federal government on the need to provide more enlightenment campaigns on health related matters.
The Turakin Adamawa also harped on the need to identify the European Union’s lessons on health issues and possible ways to implement it, adding that some diseases which commonly kill millions of Nigerians are preventable.
He, however, maintained that the country has the resources to redress what he described as the lingering health problems in the country, if only a good leadership is in place in the nation.
“We have the resources to combat this health issues, all what we need is good leadership, but not the type of leadership PDP provides, we must continue to support APC because our country needs a change.
“I was in a state recently to commission a project, and for the first time, I saw true change and transformation, not that type Ohakim displayed on television, this is the type APC can only bring to you”, Atiku said.
Earlier, the host governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, declared that APC would take over from the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in 2015, assuring that all the health problems confronting the nation would be adequately solved.
“We are gathered here today to distinguish APC from other parties, APC will head the country in 2015, we are not a Muslim party as they claim; we have so many Christians as governors and chieftains in the party. APC is the only party that can bring that change”, Okorocha said.
Former governor of Anambra State, Dr Chris Ngige in his reamrks, passed a vote of confidence on the Lagos State Government for managing and containing the Ebola Virus Disease, stressing that the measure can only be brought about by a progressive state.
The lecture was attended by 16 APC governors.
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