My donations to schools humanitarian, not political – Peter Obi
Vice Presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Peter Obi smiles during a campaign rally in Ilorin, north-central Nigeria, on December 5, 2018. - Candidates of the Nigeria's opposition party Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) launch their political campaign on December 5, 2018 ahead of the 2019 general elections. (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP) (Photo credit should read PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images)
The former Vice Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2019, Mr Peter Obi, says his financial support to schools and health institutions has no political undertone.
Obi said thiis when he visited Madonna Catholic Hospital, Umuahia, where he donated N1.5 million to support the facility.He said the gesture was borne out of his passion for humanitarian service, adding that he began his refugee work before he became the Governor of Anambra in 2007.He said he had been to Afganistan, Rwanda and Haiti doing refugee work as his contribution to alleviating the plight of citizens of the war-torn African countries.
“What I do is planned giving and the intention is to awaken people’s consciousness and consciences about the need to do good for humanity.“It has nothing to do with being in government or politics.“And I want people to know that being in politics is not only about contesting and winning elections but finding a way to touch lives positively in or outside government,” Obi said.
He said he had so far visited over 150 schools, which included about 40 health institutions, across the federation.According to him, he has committed over N200 million to the project, which includes cash donations and pledges being redeemed in batches.He said the funds were raised from his personal resources and support from his friends and people around him, who shared his mission.“My donations to hospitals is to help defray the bills of indigent patients, who were discharged but could not go home because they could not afford to pay their bills,” he said.
The former governor thanked the Church for intervening to bridge the gap in tackling the health needs of the citizenry.He said, “The Church is doing what government ought to do. So it is helping government to discharge its responsibility to the people.”He expressed worry that successive governments in the country had failed to address the critical needs of the citizenry due to corruption and incompetence of some political office holders.Obi feared that the decreasing population of nurses and other critical health workers in the nation’s health sector “portend great danger, if urgent steps are not taken to reverse the trend”.
He, therefore, admonished the student nurses at the facility, who trooped out to receive him, to be serious and committed to their programmes.“There has been a progressive and steady depletion in the number of nurses in our health institutions.“The situation calls for seriousness on your part because the nation will be in high demand for nurses in future,” Obi said.Responding, the Administrator of the hospital, Rev. Fr. Christian Anokwuru, who conducted Obi round the facility, thanked him immensely for his visit.“Your visit is a big surprise to us.
We remain eternally grateful to you and pray God to enlarge your coast.“It is our dream to continue to help government, humanity and society.“The Church is putting the structure in place toward realising the dream,” the cleric said.Anokwuru, along with his assistant, Rev. Fr. Jude Amaechi, later took Obi to inspect the Madonna College of Health Technology, Olokoro, recently built by the Catholic Diocese of Umuahia.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Obi was accompanied on the visit by his former Commissioner for Urban Development, Mr Patrick Nky-Obi. (NAN)
