The Senator representing Nasarawa West, Mohammed Onawo could not hide his excitement at the overwhelming support proposed National Eye Centre, Doma in Nasarawa state received at a public hearing held in Abuja.
Senator Onawo enumerated some of the benefits of establishing the National Eye Centre, Doma to include employment generation, reduction in eye problems, training and research on eye care.
He said the Eye Centre will benefit the entire country when established, saying it will cater for all the states in the North Central and beyond since there is no other one in the entire zone
Senator Onawo said “it was a colourful outing. I’m so excited. All the stakeholders from Nasarawa state irrespective of the political parties are here for love of Nasarawa state. Everybody has given his support on the need to establish the Eye Centre in Doma.
“As you can see, the Deputy Governor is here, the paramount rules of the zone are here. A lot of stakeholders, youths, old and practitioners are all here. I cannot expect more than this.
.“We don’t have any other National Eye Centre. We need to go to Kaduna from Benue, Taraba and other states in the zone to get specialized eye service if we want to go to government hospitals. But now, if it is established, it will reduce the risks of going to Kaduna and so many other things. Even some states from the East will come to Nasarawa state for this care.
“We are happy that everybody has embraced it and we pray that when it is passed into an Act, the Federal Government will do the needful to get government closer to the people”.
The chairman Senate Committee on Health, Senator Ipalibo Banigo (Rivers West) assured all the stakeholders that their contributions will be considered in their report to the Senate.
Meanwhile, the Emir of Azara in Nasarawa West senatorial district, Alhaji Muhammad Kabir Ibrahim hailed the proposed establishment of National Eye Centre, Doma, as according to him, it will boost food production.
The traditional ruler who spoke on the sidelines with journalists at the public hearing organized by the Senate Committee on Health (Secondary and Tertiary) said most of the causes of eye diseases like glaucoma, cataract astigmatism, colour blindness, etc are preventable.
He said the centre is desirable and they should have it “so that we can prevent our people from becoming blind because most of our people, about 70% are farmers.
According to him, if the farmers go blind, who will produce the food?
