By CHARLES IWUOHA

It was like a prayer answered to Mr and Mrs Sunday Igboke from Oriuzor in Ezza North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State as they on Monday received the sum of half a million naira from Governor David Umahi to settle their hospital bills and take care of their newborn baby.

Mrs Joyce Igboke was said to have delivered through a caesarian section at the Mother and Child Care Primary Health Centre, Abakaliki, 18 days earlier, but was detained in the facility since then for failure to pay in full, bills accruing from her medical treatments.

Mrs Igboke was billed a total sum of N130,000, out of which her husband had paid N80,000.

Fortune smiled on her and her husband when on Sunday night she was discovered by a team of some State Executive Council members on inspection tour of public utilities and facilities around Abakaliki, the state capital.

The team led by the Principal Secretary to the Governor, Chief Emmanuel Obasi, brought the woman’s plight to the attention of the Governor who instantly directed that the sum N500,000 should be given to the family.

The Governor further directed that Mrs Igboke be given automatic employment at her local government council headquarters to enable her earn regular salary for her family’s continued upkeep.

The Principal Secretary, Emmanuel Obasi, was accompanied by the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Chinwe Okah, and a group of Civil Society Organizations when he delivered the cash to the beneficiaries at the hospital ward. He explained that the Governor has been in the habit of rescuing people in difficulties irrespective of their nativity. He emphasised that Mr and Mrs Igboke were one out of countless persons the governor had given succour.

He admonished them to make good use of the money and the opportunity.

Obasi added: “You should know that our Governor is a kind man.

“Incidentally, you are not the first or even the hundredth person he has shown this kind of love.

“The Governor didn’t know you nor your husband.

“But because you are a citizen of Ebonyi State, he has extended this love to your family, and you only owe him your prayers, solidarity and support.

“He has directed us to come and deliver the message; we are only messengers.”

Mr Igboke in an emotion-laden voice appreciated the Governor for the gesture, praying that God would continue to lift him and members of his team in all their endeavors and aspirations.

He narrated how he was nearly knocked down by a moving vehicle while thinking about how to secure the release of her wife and child from the hospital, adding that he has no assistance, except his aged mother.

He described the Governor’s gesture as a miracle.

“I married this my wife in the year 2015.

“Since then, those who are supposed to help us abandoned us.

“Her first issue was through caesarean section, and this time, same problem has confronted us.

“I did not have a pin in the form of money in the house before now.

“I have been running around to secure money to no avail, and only an old woman, my aged mother gave me N1,000 to enable us feed.

“God has used the Governor to answer our prayers, and I pray that God will grant him and his team their heart desires.

“Even the Presidency he seeks, may it reach him,” Igboke prayed.

In an interview, the health officer in charge of the Centre, Mrs Elizabeth Odoh, recalled how the Governor had resettled indigent parents of a triplet delivered in the Centre.

She thanked the Governor, describing the gesture as further expression of the great value the Governor attached to human life and welfare.

Odoh however, decried the lack of adequate health workers in the centre as one of their greatest challenges, and appealed to the government to urgently address the matter.

Odoh emphasised: “Just like the Principal Secretary said, they were here last night, and only the community health workers were on duty.

“We don’t have enough qualified nurses.

“So, if it is possible for us to have more nurses; registered nurses and midwifes, we will do better.”

One of the CSO members in the train, Barr. Mrs. Nkem Chukwu, while praising the Governor’s action, called on privileged members of the society to emulate the Governor in assisting the indigents and less privileged ones around them, adding that such was the key mission of CSOs.

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