The Federal Government on Friday presented state-of-the-art ambulances to 18 Federal Government Colleges (FGCs).
Minister of State for Education, Rt. Hon. Goodluck Opiah, who inaugurated the ambulances and subsequent handover to the beneficiary institutions, disclosed that the Ministry would be procuring another set of 15 ambulances from the 2023 appropriation.
The presentation of the ambulances to the schools was done at the FGC Apo in Abuja, where Opiah also charged the recipient schools to make good use of the ambulances.
He said that each ambulance would go to three unity colleges across the six geopolitical zones of the country.
He said the delivery was a pilot project of the ministry, stressing that more ambulances would be delivered in no time to other schools.
”I am highly delighted to be performing this handing over ceremony of ambulances and two buses to some of our Unity colleges, as one of my last assignments as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
”The significance of this is that the Federal Ministry of Education not only wants our children to be well educated but to also ensure that they remain in good health in order to have sound minds for the pursuit of learning.
”The Ministry intends to make sure that every unity school has an ambulance and this is the first set. We would be procuring another set of 15 ambulances from the 2023 appropriation.
”And these would be distributed on the basis of distance to urban centres, difficulty in accessing hospital services and geopolitical spread,” he said.
While urging the schools to make use of the ambulances for the optimal benefit of the students, Opiah said the ambulances would be domiciled in the care of the government hospital within the school community.
”The option of handing over the ambulances to the hospitals was informed by the need for functional use, if it is left with your individual schools, it may not be used for up to three months.
”We are also giving out two buses to two of our new schools that do not have one. This is to make sure that all unity schools have their own buses for use by the students. You are to make sure that the bus is not misused,” he said.
The Director, Senior Secondary Education in the ministry, Hajia Binta Abdulkadri, called for effective safeguard and utilisation of the ambulances.
She said the Ministry was disturbed by a recent incident in one of the FGCs in Abuja, where a student reportedly died before getting to hospital, saying ambulances would facilitate quick response to emergencies.
The beneficiary schools are FGC, Nasarawa state, Federal Government Girls College (FGGC),Langtang, Plateau state, Federal Science and Technical College (FSTC) Ogugu, Kogi and FGC, Azare, Bauchi.
Others are FSTC, Michika Adamawa state, FGGC, Jalingo, Taraba, FSTC Katsina, FSTC Kaduna, FGC Gusau, Zamfara, FGC Nise,Anambra and FSTC Amuzu, Ebonyi state.
In the list are FSTC Umuaka, FGC October, Akwa-Ibom, FGC, Ikom, Cross River, FGC Odi, Bayelsa, FGC, Ikirun, Osun, FSTC, Igangan, Ogun and FSTC Ijebu-Mushin, Ogun state. (NAN)
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