Reform health sector now, youth coalition tasks NGF, ALGON

A group of concerned Nigerian youth have called on the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) and the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) to urgently establish and equip primary health centres across the country or face their wrath.

Convener and national president of Nigerian Youth Union (NYU), Comrade Chinonso Obasi who issued a seven-day ultimatum to their demand at a press conference in Abuja Wednesday, said both NGF and ALGON have been giving deaf ears to their request, hence the new ultimatum for them to do the needful or be ready to face the anger of the 10 youth bodies.

Obasi recalled the crucial meeting earlier held between the Nigerian Youth Union (NYU), National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) and other student groups to look into the state of the Nigerian health and seek basic healthcare accessibility for the masses, which failed to yield result.

“Having observed that a vast number of local governments do not have standard primary healthcare facilities, leaving the populace of such communities vulnerable to diseases with attendant high maternal and infant mortality rates and juxtaposing same with the fact that there was an already emplaced scheme to ensure state of the art primary healthcare centers will be consistently built across the local government areas through a well thought out public private partnership, we had issued a 14-day ultimatum which was contained in a communiqué dated January28, 2021 for the implementation of the said agreement in the interest of the masses whom we represent.

“The ultimatum which elapsed on the 10th of February without any response or positive feedback from relevant authorities compelled Nigerian Youth Union (NYU) to mobilise other heads of different youth and student associations with her members for a peaceful protest to the Ministry of Health on 11th February 2021 for a demand on immediate implementation of massive establishment and equipping of primary healthcare centers across Nigeria,” he stressed.

According to NYU national president, the group is deeply pained that some state governors are totally dictating what happens at the local government level.

“These governors have never been comfortable with the public-private-partnership to provide basic healthcare at the local/community level.”

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