The Governor of Enugu State, His Excellency, Barr. Peter Mbah, on Tuesday, signed Bill 2024 into Law for the establishment of a Teaching Hospital in the new Enugu State University of Medical and Applied Sciences (SUMAS).
FirstNews reports that SUMAS was founded and established by the immediate past Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s administration.
Former Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
Mbah while signing the bill, promised to expedite action to actualize the teaching hospital to provide quality training and healthcare services in the Enugu North Senatorial Zone and the state in general.
He commending the Enugu State House of Assembly for accelerating action on the processing and passage of the executive Bill, noting that establishing SUMAS Teaching Hospital, Igbo-Eno, Udenu LGA, was in line with his manifesto.
His words: “What we have done by signing into law the Enugu State University of Medical and Applied Scieneces Teaching Hospital Bill is that we now have in place a legal framework to immediately begin to put in place all that is required to upgrade SUMAS to a teaching hospital. This is part of our campaign promises and we are committed to delivering on that expeditiously.
“We believe that the importance and significance of siting a teaching hospital in our Enugu North zone can never be lost on us. So, we are not going to spend any time in making sure that everything that is necessary and required to upgrade and get the teaching hospital operational is put in place. With this Law, we are going to redouble our commitment and our efforts to achieve that.”
He assured the Governing Council and the Management of SUMAS of his continued support, adding that his administration would equally be counting on their pedigree and contacts to bring the teaching hospital to fruition in record time.
“We are going to continue to support you and we are also going to continue to count on your experience, network, and profile in raising resources to actualize the project.
“This year alone, we are going to spend 33 per cent of our budget on education. This underscores the importance of education to this administration. So, be sure to come to us whenever there is a need. We are going to support you because we are interested in education and we are investing heavily in it”, the governor said.
The Speaker of Enugu State House of Assembly, Hon. Uchenna Ugwu, commended Governor Mbah’s speed and faithfulness in delivering on his campaign promises.
Ugwu assured that the House of Assembly was ever ready to fast-track every executive bill that would impact positively on the state and its people.
“We promised we are going to support this administration by doing our job expeditiously to ensure that there is no delay in your delivery of democracy dividends to our people. Therefore, the SUMAS Teaching Hospital Bill received expedited hearing and today you have the signing of the Bill into Law,” he stated.
Among the dignitaries who witnessed the signing of the bill were: Chairman of SUMAS Governing Council, Msgr. Obiora Ike, and the Vice Chancellor, Professor James Ogbonna, and top management staff of the institution.
