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NIMR gets Okowa’s nod to establish outstation in Asaba

By Victoria Njoku
24 March 2016   |   2:18 am
Determined to meet its primary mandate to conduct basic, applied and operational research for prevention and control of diseases endemic in the country in cooperation with the Federal and State Ministries ...

Governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, with the Director General (DG) of the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) during a courtesy visit to the Government House Asaba to finalise plans on establishment of NIMR’s outstation in Asaba

Governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, with the Director General (DG) of the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) during a courtesy visit to the Government House Asaba to finalise plans on establishment of NIMR’s outstation in Asaba

Determined to meet its primary mandate to conduct basic, applied and operational research for prevention and control of diseases endemic in the country in cooperation with the Federal and State Ministries of Health, Nigeria Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) and the Delta State Government plan to establish an outstation in Asaba.

Director General of NIMR, Prof. Innocent Ujah, during a courtesy call to Governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, said: “Your Excellency, you are very much aware of our efforts to establish an outstation in the South-South geopolitical Zone, specifically in Delta State, for which you had helped to facilitate while you were Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, but we could not finalize for very many logistic reasons.

“Your Excellency, I am here today with my team from NIMR to formally express our desire to establish NIMR outstation in Asaba, the Delta State capital.”

Ujah said the main objective of establishing the outstation is to further improve the overall health of the people of Delta State and the South-South zone through evidence-based research using credible data generated through basic, applied or implementation research.

This, he said, will contribute to the improvement of quality of health care in this zone, which has distinct environmental, social and health peculiarities. “The establishment of the outstation will promote effective health research and other public health programmes that will generate evidence based data for improved health care policies and implementation strategies in Delta State and the entire South-South Zone,” he said.

The NIMR DG said a detailed proposal for the establishment of the outstation has earlier been forwarded through the Honourable Commissioner for Health to the Governor’s office. “We should be delighted for your endorsement and approval of this request to enable us actualize our long time dream of setting up an outstation of the Institute in Delta State,” he said.

Ujah prayed Okowa to: approve the establishment of NIMR outstation in Asaba and provide a furnished building that will serve as an office for the outstation.

The NIMR DG said some of the benefits derivable from the establishment of the outstation in Delta state include: Increased tempo of health research and capacity development which will lead to evidence-based quality health care for the people of South-South Geo-political Zone; employment generation and wealth creation for your people; collaboration with the State University Medical School in areas of health research and capacity development; and attraction of donor funding and support as well as international partnership for development which is expected to enhance the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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