The attention of Prince Abiodun Derin Adesida, the lawmaker representing Akure North/Akure South Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, has been drawn to the concern of Dr. Akeredolu O.N about the fate of the medical students of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, (FUTA). Dr. Akeredolu expressed the concern in an article titled “Who Will Rescue FUTA Medical Students”.
The worry of Dr Akeredolu stems from the fact that the first set of FUTA medical students will soon write their MBBS examinations. Passing the examinations is a prerequisite for advancing from 300 level to 400 level which is the beginning of their clinical years. Unfortunately, there is no teaching hospital where to teach them practical management of patients and handling of health issues.
We think the concern of Dr. Akeredolu about the fate of not less than 150 medical students must not be glossed over by anyone who desires the best for our state, our country and, of course, the whole of humanity. Therefore, all hands must be on deck to ensure that FUTA teaching hospital becomes a reality as soon as possible.
However, this reaction is to correct a certain impression about Prince Adesida created in Dr. Akeredolu’s article. Prince Adesida is as concerned about the FUTA teaching hospital as Dr. Akeredolu. The truth is that the bill to establish the Federal University of Technology Akure Teaching Hospital was passed by the Ninth Senate on Wednesday, February 25, 2022. Unfortunately, former President Muhammadu Buhari failed to sign the bill into law before exiting office. The bill had to be represented at the floor of the Tenth Senate. It has passed first reading.
At present, there is no bill on FUTA teaching hospital on the floor of the House of Representatives. The bill on the teaching hospital will be sent to the House for confirmation only when passed after third reading in the Senate. It is important to note here that Prince Adesida is already lobbying his colleagues in the House in order to ensure quick confirmation when the Bill is sent by the Senate.
Dr. Akeredolu and the people of the state should be rest assured that Prince Adesida will surely play his part to the satisfaction of all. It is the understanding of Prince Adesida that the bill will be presented for second reading in the Senate anytime from now.
Having given an update on the FUTA teaching hospital bill above, we would like to take strong exception to the description of Prince Adesida as the worst representative in the history of the constituency in Dr. Akeredolu’s article. The criteria he used for his comparative analysis are not known and clear to us. Also, we don’t know the scale on which he weighed the performance of Prince Adesida.
For the information of Dr. Akeredolu, this is not the first time Prince Adesida would represent his federal constituency in the National Assembly. He was the representative of the federal constituency between 2007 and 2011. During the first time of Prince Adesida in the House, he facilitated employment of no fewer than one hundred youths. Most of them were employed into the Nigeria Custom Service. In less than one year of his return to the National Assembly in 2023, he has helped no fewer than 30 Akure youths to secure employment. Some of them are currently working with the Federal Road Safety Corps.
Prince Adesida has on several occasions provided funds for other serious youths and women to do one trade or the other. Apart from the registration of men and women, young and old people in the constituency by Prince Adesida to benefit from the distribution of N150,000 cash each, some members of the constituency have received N50,000 each per month from the federal government for over three months.
Also during his first term in the National Assembly, Prince Adesida influenced the installation of the 330/132/33kV| 2x150MVA transmission substation in the federal constituency. As at then, the worth of the project was N6 billion. It remains the biggest project any federal lawmaker in the state has ever attracted to his constituency.
The giant project is sited at Owode town, along Akure/Owo road. The substation was completed in 2017 but since then, it has not been energised. If energised, the people of Ondo and Ekiti states will no longer rely on Osogbo for the transmission of electricity to the two states. The expectation is that the 55MW supply from Osogbo would increase to over 200MW, a development expected to ensure electricity stability for Ondo and Ekiti states.
It is also on record that Prince Adesida was the one who influenced the installation of N150 million worth of 132/33 KV Power Distribution Sub-Station to boost power distribution in Akure South. The project is located Opposite Arcade Ground, Igbatoro road, Alagbaka, Akure. During that period, he also distributed 30 transformers within the federal constituency to boost power distribution in both Akure North and Akure South. He built blocks of classrooms for schools, embarked on water and road projects and had among his achievements bills and motions that sought to bring progress and development.
Since he returned to the National Assembly in 2023, he has facilitated installation of solar street lights in no fewer than 25 communities in both Akure South and Akure North. He has also facilitated the building of blocks of classrooms in the federal constituency. One of the school project is ongoing at the School for the Deaf, Akure. On the floor of the House, he has moved motions and sponsored bills seeking development for the federal constituency. One of the bills is the one seeking the upgrading of the Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, to a university.
So, we consider it unfair to describe Prince Adesida as the worst federal lawmaker in the history of the Akure North and Akure South Federal Constituency. We would not have reacted to his article which is full of invectives, but the importance of the issue that Dr. Akeredolu has raised is not in doubt. Therefore, we resisted the temptation to allow his unfair misrepresentation of Prince Adesida to blind us to the genuineness of his worry about the fate of the FUTA medical students.
We appreciate the fact that Dr. Akeredolu is an angry Nigerian. He is not satisfied with the unsavoury level of development in the country despite the abundance of resources. We also consider his anger as justifiable. Nobody can dispute his love for the state, his courage and his candour. But we admonish him to always opt for a clean and decent way of presenting his views about important issues. He has become a respectable voice against all that is wrong with our dear country. Therefore, he should pay attention to how he presents his opinions. He should stop destroying the beauty of his arguments with the choice of words that reek of incivility.
Oyewamide Wande Ojo
Media Consultant to
Prince Abiodun Derin Adesida
House of Representatives Member
Akure North and Akure South Federal Constituency
October 22, 2024.
Reading this article, I say kudos to Hon Prince Adesida. Please let your media staff continue to positively engage the people and the press on all your activities Sir. I have overheard comments of under-performance about you from people in our City. But I can see that you are doing great things, that may be people are not aware of. So your press team should up thier game. More grace Sir.