Healthcare Should Be Considered A Security Issue — Gen. Agwai

Former Chief of Defence Staff, General Martin Luther Agwai, has said that the provision of healthcare in rural communities enhances peaceful coexistence while helping to prevent conflicts.

General Agwai made the remark during the handover of a health facility to the people of Kolo in Toto Local Government Area of Nasarawa State by a non-governmental organisation, the Middle Belt Brain Trust (MBBT), in partnership with the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT).

He said the organisation had recognised the suffering of the people as a result of the violence and displacement that affected families across the community, where people lost loved ones, livelihoods and years of schooling.

Kolo and other communities in the local government area had, for years, been displaced by crises that ravaged the area. However, through various peacebuilding efforts, the communities have embraced peace and resolved to live together.

Gen. Agwai, who is the chairman of MBBT, said the construction of the health centre was intended to give practical expression to a shared commitment that every community deserves care, dignity and peace.

He said the organisation conceived the idea of rebuilding the community health centre in collaboration with the Nasarawa State Government, Toto LGA and the people of the area to alleviate their suffering and foster peaceful coexistence.

He said that after discovering that displaced people in the community had returned home, schools had reopened, family activities had resumed, and market and economic activities were taking shape, MBBT, in partnership with IFIT, decided to rebuild the health centre for the community.

“And it is for this reason that IFIT and the Middle Belt Brain Trust, with project funding from the FCDO’s SPRING Project, have chosen to invest in rebuilding key social infrastructure in strategic communities in Toto LGA that would strengthen the peace by providing social services that lead to the cooperative use of resources,” he said.

Gen. Agwai also said other interventions included the construction of a primary school block in Zono community and 12 market stalls in each of the markets in Shege, Katakpa, Gwargwada and Gwombe communities.

He said he believed that embarking on such interventions would help make the recovery process durable and would play a strategic role in strengthening social infrastructure.

Gen. Agwai noted that the completion of the markets would strengthen relationships through regular trade, adding that it would also reconnect communities whose social and economic ties had been disrupted by violence.

Also speaking, the Chairman of Toto LGA of Nasarawa State, Alhaji Ahmed Baba Yahaya, commended the organisation and the state government for identifying the community for the construction of a health centre.

He assured the people of the community that the works department of the local government would commence the refurbishment of non-functional boreholes in the community. He also charged the people to ensure that they made good use of the facility.

On his part, the Ohimegye of Opanda-Umaisha Kingdom, HRH Alhaji Usman Abdullahi, represented by the Madaki, appreciated the organisation for building a befitting health centre for the people of the community.

He therefore called on the people of Kolo community to ensure peaceful coexistence among themselves, irrespective of tribe, religion or ethnicity.