As senators go through the C.Vs of the
nominees for ministers,questions were boing thrown at them and here are their
responses
Kayode Fayemi
Chief Audu Obe
Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu
Dr Osagie Ehanire
Lieutenant General Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau
Their portfolios have not yet been revealed but the senators are asking
questions based on the nominees CV's to have an idea what ministry they are
being nominated for .
Dr Osagie Ehanire responding to questions on how he intends to stem
Health Workers strikes and make healthcare affordable
From my experience in the public and
private health sector,I confirm there is a loss of confidence in the health
sector .When I was abroad, I had the incidence of treating Nigerians who came
abroad some for simple operations.
I propose areal examination of the entire curriculum of doctors down to
community health workers
We are short of equipment which needs to be brought and installed in
hospitals.There is a problem with management.Hospitals need to be managed
better ..I do not assume the health sector is exempted from corruption/
The attitude of
actors in the health sector is also discouraging .Many people do not get the
dignity and respect they expect when they visit hospitals
I would propose a reorientation of health workers on how to treat patients with respect .
The health insurance has alot of problems and is still in the infancy.Community health insurance is being studied right now .
Senator Murray Bruce,the training aspect is what I would say .Doctors have to check and crosscheck each others diagnosis.
On traditional medicine
I do think traditionalists have alot to contribute.Quinine was extracted from native medicine in South America.I believe traditional medicine has to be better regulated .Because there is a serous danger in allowing people who have not had experience to treat people.
Helath workers strikes
Is insufficient engagement of young resident doctors.They should be better engaged for them to understand problems the government faces.We don't have so much resources as they would like to be accrued to them. Agreements reached with this doctors should be adhered too,or reasons given.
During former Ekiti State governor,Kayode Fayemi's screening, while responding to questions about the alleged N50m bed he built in the Ekiti state government house , the former governor said the government house he met was a 2 bedroom apartment government house and so decided to build a befitting government house.
"I challenge anybody who claims that I bought a bed for N50 million to prove it. Anyone one who knows me personally knows that I am not given to frivolities. Not even a bed of N1.5 million is there. I left everything behind when I left.
All I did was to build a befitting government house for the state.”
During Chief Audu Obe's screening ,he was asked since he was minister in 1983, what does he intend to bring to the table now in line with change..He said
Since I left here, I have been in the school of life, traveling round the world,looking at issues of Agriculture and why we fail.First, we have the worst seed to plant in comparison to others.A cow in Nigeria gives one litre of milk a day and a cow in Zimbabwe gives 15 litres a day and in Europe, 40 litres a day .We are in danger, I don't know how many of us receive text mgs of account numbers everyday
We must have extension centers.We spend almost 22 billion naira year importing food .
Another issue affecting Agric is interest rates,China 6/12percent,Nigeria 35percent.Unless you are producing cocaine how do you invest at 35 percent and make profit .?
Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu (Former governor Old Abia State) On questions on how electricity can be made steady and unemployment can be tackled,he said
One reason we have not done so well in power is because we allow crude oil and natural gas to keep generating the same revenue.We have to look at developed countries who diversified power generation.
In Nigeria,we rely on hydro and natural gas.In Tanzania, they have shut down their hydro-generating facilities because of inadequate rainfall. We have abundance of coal,if we can utilize coal for power generation.Nigerian coal is one of the best in the world because the sulfur content is low ,Use coal to produce power .
We need to produce or manufacture .We need enough power to do so,.For example, you can it solve the problem of unemployment unless you increase production.There was a time in Nigeria we exported rice.But recently,we were spending as much as one billion naira a day importing rice.
So in terms of unemployment,we need to produce more than we are doing now.
