Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello has commissioned the new two-storey administrative block built by the Federal Teaching Hospital (FTH) Lokoja.
Former president, Muhammadu Buhari, had in March 2023 approved the upgrade of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Lokoja, to a Federal Teaching Hospital.
The FTH Lokoja would serve as the teaching hospital for the College of Health Sciences, Federal University Lokoja (FUL).
Speaking at the inauguration in Lokoja, the governor commended the federal government as well as the management and staff for their commitment to rapidly move the health institution from strength to strength.
Bello, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Folashade Ayoade, noted that the Kogi health sector had undergone incredible renaissance in the last seven and half years under his New Direction administration.
“We have done comprehensive upgrades of infrastructure, equipment and human resources at all our state owned primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities.
“In most cases we totally reconstructed existing structures or built new ones from the scratch,” Bello said.
The governor stressed that his administration was working hard to meet the objectives and complement the institution’s efforts in a very strong way.
Vice Chancellor of Federal University Lokoja (FUL), Prof. Olayemi Akinwunmi, thanked former president Buhari for upgrading the FMC Lokoja to FTH status.
He also thanked the governor for his landmark achievements in the health sector, assuring that the institution would do its best to consolidate on them.
Akinwunmi noted that most Kogi students seeking admission to study Medicine in other universities were being denied admission.
He assured that the institution would raise a massive corps of health practitioners by deliberately giving qualified Kogi students preferential consideration in all admission processes.
The state’s commissioner for health, Dr Zakari Usman, commended the FTH Lokoja management for the consistent progress made over the years, and for always complementing the efforts of the state government in quality healthcare services to the people.
