President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, has said the upper chamber of the National Assembly is now occupied by a different set of politicians who have abandoned “the practice of yesterday’s politics.”
Saraki, according to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sanni Onogu, said this on Saturday, at the commissioning and handing over of an 80-bed hospital built by Senator Hassan Mohammed and donated to the Federal Government in Potiskum, Yobe State.
The Senate President urged the federal, state and local governments to ensure efficiency in all health care facilities across the country for the benefit of the masses.
He added that with the hospital, residents of Potiskum will no longer need to travel to neighbouring states for treatment.
Saraki said, “This is why I committed to helping Senator Mohammed with getting the support of the Federal Government in the running of this hospital so that its benefits to the people of Potiskum and Yobe at large are guaranteed and sustained.
“This is the kind of leaders we find today in the Nigerian Senate; people who are abandoning the practice of yesterday’s politics. It must be strongly lauded that this is a PDP Senator, in an APC led state, donating this edifice to an APC government.
“The lesson is that what matters is not the political party or the government in power but the love you have for your people and your connection with them. I challenge the Federal Government to ensure that this hospital that has been entrusted to them is adequately taken care of, and is run with the highest level of professionalism and efficiency possible.
“I implore the Ministry of Health to ensure this hospital continues to receive priority attention both in management and in resource. I expect that this hospital will be run with the highest degree of efficiency possible; and to the good people of Potiskum, I encourage you to use this hospital and demand efficiency in service from the management.”
He added that the senator chose to make a difference in the lives of people in his senatorial district by building the hospital.
“To build such an imposing edifice at a time like this, is not a mean feat. To build and then transfer by donation, a hospital of this size and capacity to a different government in power other than his party, freely, for the service of his people is a signature statement of extraordinary leadership,” Saraki said.
The Senate President also said he was moved when Mohammed told him that he preferred to build a befitting hospital to the typical practice of sharing money to constituents. He added that with the hospital, the lives of many children and that of many pregnant women would be saved.
(Punch)
