US-based Kwarans donate medical equipment to state govt

Some indigenes of Kwara State based in the United States of America recently presented medical equipment and hospital-related items to the state government.

Kwara State governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, said he had from the beginning of his administration prioritised public health, noting that he was pleased to be associated with the Kwarans living abroad, who had made the donation possible.

Abdulrazaq, who was represented at the official presentation of the items by the state commissioner for health, Raji Razaq, commended the diaspora Kwarans in the Seattle/ Project CURE for the kind gesture, saying he was impressed “for providing succour to our people in Kwara State”.

The governor said, “On our part, the health sector has remained one of the priority areas and the means through which we have reached out to the majority of our people in respect of the dividends of democratic governance.

“In our resolve to improve the healthcare system and in keeping with goal 17th of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, we shall continue to work and collaborate with public-spirited Nigerians to complement what we are doing and change the narratives for good.

“On this note, I am pleased to accept and unveil the medical equipment/items donated to our state by our friends and compatriots, who are currently making a living in diaspora and are based in Seattle, and the benevolent healthcare foundation Project Cure,” he said

One of the donors, Lateef Olaniyan, who attended the event and gave a speech on behalf of others, noted that they had though been giving necessary supports to the people back home before now but were encouraged to take a decision that this should increase in volume owing to the steps taken by Governor Abdulrazaq.

He promised that Kwarans living abroad would continue to support the state government and impact on lives back home.

“The origin of what we are doing today started in 2019 when our governor was elected. Before even taking office, we, in the diaspora, invited him to the United States, and we asked ‘please tell us how you’re going to rule.

“What are you going to do for our people in Kwara State. What do you have in stock for them? So he came, he responded to us. After telling us his vision for the state, we were extremely impressed that definitely this is the person we need to follow.

“We in Seattle, we usually donate to the food bank for the poor people to go and get food. If we’re able to do this, what are we going to do for our state? And again, we’ve been doing this even before the emergence of this administration,” Olaniyan, a medical doctor, said.

“We received acknowledgements. After that, the next project we wanted to do was the Project Cure. This Project Cure just quickly I should tell you a little bit about it. It’s the largest organisation in the world that supplies medical equipment and they’ve touched over 130 countries in the world, including Nigeria, Ghana and Zimbabwe.

“That was why we embarked on this programme. So we contributed money, we said we’re going to make this happen.

“We are doing this just to support Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq, as we all know, he is not the first governor in Kwara State. We’ve had so many governors and we’ve invited them all but this one is different,” he added.