The Enugu State government has on Sunday commissioned a 14-bed medical centre built by the Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Program, Phase One, ATASP-1 for the farmers at Asaba community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State.

Governor Peter Mbah, who was represented by the Commissioner for Agriculture and Agro Industrialisation, Mr. Patrick Ubru during the commissioning of the project commended the leadership of ATASP-1 for their support in the area of infrastructural development as being witnessed in most of the agrarian communities in the state, while reiterating the readiness of the state government to partner with ATASP-1 and other donor agencies in making sure that the farmers in Enugu State have the needed infrastructures and agricultural equipments to optimize their performances in farming activities.

Ubru further informed the people that the governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah has recently approved the counterpart funding with ATASP-1 in order to make sure that there is improvement not only in the agricultural activities but also in the standard of living of Enugu farmers.

“The governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah is a compassionate leader who understands the feelings of the farmers in Enugu. He is ready to uplift the standard of living of the farmers and that is why he has recently approved the counterpart funding of ATASP-1 because he wants more projects like this to get to farmers like you in the state. This health facility was built because the health of the farmers in this community is of utmost importance. You need to be healthy to engage in agricultural activities that will roll out food for the state, the nation, and for exports.

“There is an ongoing farmers registration at the ministry. We are doing that to make sure that we interact with the farmers directly, as the era of hijacking what is meant for the farmers is over. The state government is doing more to make sure that there is food security in Enugu, so, with the plans on ground, Enugu will soon be an exporter of agricultural produce just like our amiable governor has promised to Ndi Enugu,” the commissioner assured.

Meanwhile, the Zonal Programme Coordinator of ATASP-1, Dr. Romanus Egba thanked the Enugu State government for their support and the approval of the counterpart funding, stressing that ATASP-1 would always be ready to help the farmers both in agricultural trainings and provision of some basic amenities to aid them in their day to day agricultural activities, while maintaining that ATASP-1 had executed numerous projects in the state including building of health centres and equipping them with the latest medical equipments.

“Our desire is to ensure that Enugu farmers perform optimally in their farming activities. You need infrastructures like this to remain healthy. The days of seeking medical attention outside this community are over, except in critical situations, which the health workers here cannot handle. I equally want to appeal to the state government to deploy more health workers to the Asaba community to ensure effective running of this health facility. This project costs a lot and the equipment here is of highest quality. The borehole has been dug and it is fully functioning. I plead with the people of Asaba to make adequate use of these facilities because we want the best for the farmers and we want them to remain healthy to be able engage in their activities,” Egba said.

Speaking on behalf of Asaba community, the Administrator of Ogboli Development Centre, Sunday Aniagor; the Igwe of Asaba community, Ilegbune Ezigbo; and the Town Union President, Francis Okafor all expressed profound gratitude to the governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah and the management team of ATASP-1 for remembering Asaba community, maintaining that the people of Asaba will not only make use of the health centre but will guard it jealousy.

The 14-bed state of the art health facility is equipped with an ultrasound machine, scanning machine, and lots of other diagnostic equipments.