David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka 

Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, has said that leadership failure is responsible for the decay in health institutions across the country.

He said this Friday when he paid an unscheduled visit to the students of the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku-Ozala, Enugu State.

Obi told the students that he decided to pay the visit after receiving a letter from the faculty’s re-accreditation fundraising committee wherein the committee requested for his financial support for the re-accreditation.

He said upon receipt of the letter signed by one of the students, he had contacted the authorities of the institution who confirmed to him that the request was genuine, so he decided to visit to see the situation on ground, promising the students that in addition to his personal donation, he would also solicit other good spirited individuals to support the faculty.

The former Anambra State governor handed over a cheque of N15 million to the students through the duo of the chairman of the re-accreditation fundraising committee, Comrade Boston Chukwuemeka (Jnr) and president of the University of Nigeria Dental Students Association, Comrade Daniel Ogba.

Addressing the students, Obi said: “I was a student at the UNN, and as a student of UNN, President (Shehu) Shagari visited Nsukka then and slept in Nsukka. During the visit, Shagari interacted with the students who told him what they needed. You are the ones that need the facilities in the iniversity, not the lecturers. Lecturers are your best friends.

“Let me start by commending you for struggling to be here to study without being given the adequate facilities and support.

“I had planned to pay this visit earlier after receiving the letter from one of you, but, I had to shift it because of the mourning period of our president (Muhammadu Buhari) which ended yesterday (Thursday, 16th August). 

“I didn’t even tell the provost that I was coming because I just want to make the visit unofficial to come and see the situation on ground. I am a Lion myself, I was a student at the UNN, so I don’t need any permission before I can come.

“I have passed through some of the best universities in the world. I’m an alumnus of the Oxford University, Harvard, Cambridge, so I know about a school that does not have facilities and not functional.” 

Obi said that the UNTH had produced so many great people who are making impacts across the country and globally, but lamented over the level of decay in the health institution.

He said that issues of health is the most important aspect of human existence, but expressed regrets that the leadership of the country has not been given the sector the desired attention.

Obi for instance stated that about N6 billion was spent on the construction of legislators’ car park at the National Assembly, describing the action as a misplaced priority.

​