BY BENSON OKOBI-ALLANAH
TO the Founder/Coordinator-General of the famous One Good Turn Support Group (ONGOTSUG), Prince OBCA Nwaobi-Okonya, praise-singing, commendation and appreciation should only go to those who truly deserve it.
The socio-political pressure group founder, who says his group always shares in welcoming good news, angles for good governance which is never an option but a necessity that needs to be pursued, captured and sustained, pointed out that the recent sealing deal by the Asaba Specialist Hospital (ASH) with the Dennis Osadebay University (DOU), Asaba, to train would-be medical students from the Ivory Tower, was worth commending and commenting on. He said he would have loved to refer to ASH immediately as the Teaching Hospital of DOU to express his joy he described as overwhelming.
The ONGOTSUG boss whose socio-political group cuts across the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), with Asaba as its national headquarters, says the bridging of the hardship encountered by the always teeming number of JAMB candidates in the state most of whom were denied admission even when they were found to be eminently qualified for admission by universities outside the state, and by the then only existing state-government owned university, Delta State University (DELSU) Abraka, was what made the immediate past governor of the state, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa envision expanding the frontiers of education in the state by up-grading three higher institutions in the state, the Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro, College of Education, Agbor, Delta State University, Abraka, Asaba campus to university status, thus, finally nailing such admission denials to unscrew-able loosing point, and expressed happiness that his successor, the amiable and detribalized governor of Delta State, Rt-Hon Sheriff Francis Oborevwori is not only sustaining such good legacies but also acting like his predecessor, Governor Okowa, by being detribalized in his activities.
The Ika-north east born public affairs analyst, social and good governance crusader, applauded the noble signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by the management of the up-scale and always forward-looking health institution, the Asaba Specialist Hospital (ASH), with that of the the fast-rising Dennis Osadebay University (DOU), Asaba. He commended thie coming together to achieve such lofty idea.
Nwaobi-Okonya said with the two institutions coming together to sign such legacy bond, that the yearnings of parents resident in and outside Asaba, for their children to study medicine itself which is now in the pipe-line, and some working class elements such as nurses and laboratory technologists willing to update their knowledge in the medical fields, will soon blossom to reality. He said for now, Dennis Osadebay University should be bearing the admission burden for admission explosion for education-loving Deltans resident in the state capital and all its environs who have always complained of seeking admission for their children and themselves in that field of study and other fields not yet available outside the state but denied admission even when they are qualified for it.
He says: ‘You may be wondering why I said Dennis Osadebay University for now will be bearing the admission burden for education –loving Deltans resident in the state capital and all its environs. You see, I say without fear or favour, that most Deltans are beginning to feel happy for having Asaba as the state capital because of the relative peace and security it offers. For that reason, many parents will want their children study here, and while workers in the public and private sectors looking forward to further their education, especially those working in the state capital, will now have the opportunity of doing so without having to seek admission outside, and with the proposed Federal University of Technology, Asaba, which bill has passed the second reading in the Senate, coming when the seven year ban on the establishment of new universities and other institutions must have elapsed, that burden on admission for the teeming populace of Asaba and its environs must have been reduced, with DOU still maintaining a good number of students intake yearly.’
The new arrangement will position Asaba Specialist Hospital as not only how medical students are trained but also how healthcare is delivered across the state, with ASH as the teaching hospital for Dennis Osadebay University. The Asagba of Asaba, Obi Prof. Epiphany Azinge (SAN, who is also the President of the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal, sitting in London, representing Nigeria and Africa, himself, deserves commendation, a lot of commendations for his unalloyed support in DOU, and other new innovations he has introduced and embarked on aimed at improving the social status of Asaba as a state capital, and other promises aimed at bettering the lives of his people and non-indigenes in town and other of its satellite communities.
He had earlier in the year pledged a donation of N100 million to establish a Faculty of Law, aside the Asaba International 10kilometer Road walk that will bring many Afriacan countries to participate in Asaba, thus, placing Asaba on the world map.
Nwaobi Okonya said Asaba as the state capital, remains a home for all Deltans, that anything coming to the city as development invarably belongs to all Deltans irrespective of ethnic nationality, political affliation and community one hails from, saying ‘some of us do not see themselves as being Asaba; no one is being asked to deny his or her community’s identity as some of us tend to think, afterall, I am from Ika-north east, but still see myself as coming from Asaba as my state capital. That is why I am always overwhelmed with joy when the city where I have my buildings, train my children and have my business growing with confirmed recognition as being one of the most peaceful, fast developing and expanding state capital cities in Nigeria.’ The ONGOTSUG boss pointed out.
He commended Governor Oborevwori for his ability to spread development across the length and breath of the state, and said a sustained effort of such development strides would continue to receive peoples’ commendation. He urged speedy completion of projects going on in the state as completing them at the agreed time would pave way for other infrastructural developments yet to embark on and renewed trust by government on benefiting contractors.
He also called for riddance of Asaba streets of lunatics who as a result of drug addiction, have made themselves unmanageble human beings, and also solicited for the relocation of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to Asaba where presence of drug peddlers and their customers are more in number in the state for effective policing by the Agency.
