Paul Orude, Bauchi
Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State has praised the Executive Chairman of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Professor Sulieman Bogoro, for establishing a N100 million Molecular Laboratory, the second in the state, to carry out testing for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Speaking during a routine inspection of the Molecular laboratory established by TETFUND under the Federal Ministry of Education, at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, on Monday, the governor said Bogoro was one of the indigenes making the state proud.
‘We took the first step to approach TETFUND to say please help us and they did. Professor Bogoro is the kind of children we want in Bauchi State and he is really one of those that we are proud of. He is doing it, not for Bauchi but for Nigeria and you can see the effect it has made to our health system in Bauchi State and the northeast,’ the governor said.
‘The support is timely and has given us the required impetus to sharpen our capacity for health care delivery. We are grateful to all the parties involved and as a state government, we will give them all the support that they require and the host community.
Mohammed, who was in company with his Deputy Governor and Charman of the state Task Force on COVID-19 and Lassa Fever, Senator Baba Tella, Dr Ladan Saliu, the Executive Chairman of the State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Rilwanu Mohammed, Commissioner for Health Dr Aliyu Maigoro Mohammed, Commissioner for Information Alhaji Garba Dahiru, was received by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abdulaziz Mohammed, and his management team.
He thanked the Federal Government and the management and staff of the teaching hospital and health workers for collaboration to build the laboratory.
‘I thank the NCDC for being there to give us the guidelines for best practices in terms of protocol. We are just waiting for the NCDC to come and certify all the compliance so that this place will, take off and with this, we will go a long way to achieve our desire objective of making sure that community testing for COVID-19 is carried out in all nooks and cranny of the state.
Professor Muhammad recalled that Professor Bogoro approved N100 million to assist the centre and expressed appreciation to the Federal Government.
‘Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University can recall this is the first time that the state government has been proactive in solving our problems as a university and we appreciation Governor Bala Mohammed and want to assure you that this laboratory is not for COVID-19 alone but a research laboratory after COVID-19. This laboratory will continue to exist to test any disease that we come across in this state,’ the VC said.