The Lions Clubs International is to spend N150 million to build eye care centre in Minna, Niger State capital.
The District Governor, Lions Clubs International, District 404 -A2, 2022/2023, Lion Asiwaju Jide Bello, disclosed this over the weekend during his presentation and fund raising ceremony of the club.
He said, “Our major focus is sight preservation. We have a plan of building an eye care complex in Minna, Niger State and it’s going to cost us over N150 million .
According to the newly inducted DG, the project was arrived at, following the needs assessment carried out by the club and the choice of Minna is due to its strategic location to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
He said the centre would serve immediate populations of both vicinities as well as the country as a whole.
“Let me tell you one thing, when I approached them on our project, they were wondering, why will I come from nowhere to build an eye centre when I’m not from Niger.
“We have started the process and we have met with stakeholders in Minna.
We have met with the governor who allocated a land to us.
So after this presentation, we will kick into action and start the building.
Bello, who is also the managing director, Cospic Insurance Brokers Nigeria Limited, said the club was also impacting humanity in other areas, saying, ” Aside that, look at our environment, the IDPs and so on, we are going to feed them. As a matter of fact, we will be assisting the government to touch the lives of the underprivileged. This is part of our agenda.
“Even in the area of health, on the issue of diabetes, we are going to be carrying out awareness and testing and we have done quite a lot on periantic cancer but we are still going to leverage on what the past district governor had done and improve on it.”
The DG, Lions Clubs , District 404 – A2, called on well meaning and public spirited Nigerians to assist the club on order to serve humanity better.
*So we are calling on well meaning Nigerians to come and assist is because we cannot do it all alone.
We are non profit organisation and our motto is service above self. That’s what we do.”
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Health, Niger State, Dr Muhammad Makusidi commended the Lions Club, and especially, the newly inducted governor for finding Niger State worthy to partner with, bearing in mind that the project is capital intensive and no government can do it alone.
” No government talk less of an individual can do it alone. So, we need to collaborate and health is everybody’s business.”
He explained that for the first time Lion Bello came to Niger and told them his vision and mission when he eventually takes over the helm of affairs of the club, and what he wanted to do to impact on health in order to leave a legacy, he categorically stated that Niger State was his home for the project.
The commissioner said this is because, most importantly, Niger State is the origin of Nigeria.
“You just add ia to Niger and get Nigeria and also, because of its proximity to Abuja.
” So, he gave us a budget and a template and designs and what it should constitute so that it can ultimately become a timely intervention though we already had a roadmap to have a befitting eye centre.
“When this came on board, we were overwhelmed and short of words, but rather we want to thank the Lions for finding Niger State worthy for this gigantic project.”
The commissioner who is also a practising consultant surgeon, Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT), said the importance of eye cannot be over emphasized, saying, ” So the issue of eye and most, importantly, we’ll say disability is of course an open disability. There are a large number of people that have morbidity around the eye, cataracts, glaucoma, just name it. So they are a very good number and of course, in terms of human resources and facilities, there is still a gap which needed to be filled.
” We have a large number. I can’t remember the statistics now, but I’m very sure the number is astronomical.”
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