It is no longer news that the Chairman, House Committee on Marine Transport, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has been unanimously elected as the Gubernatorial Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State for the 2015 gubernatorial election slated for April 11, 2015.
It is also a common knowledge that once an individual has been so chosen, a lot of support groups will come up jostling for the recognition of the said candidate as working for his election with the intent of being rewarded with an appointive position or contracts as the case may be when he might have won the seat so contested for. It is also common knowledge that most of these support groups sit idle doing nothing but brandishing about various forms of proposals with the intent of collecting money from the candidate in the name of working for his election only to collect such money and fizzle away thus the reason why candidates hardly know which group or groups actually worked for him during the electioneering period.
And the case is not different with Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi because as at the last count, there were about 50 support groups working for his election in different dimension using different approach, all geared towards getting the attention of the would-be Governor of Enugu State come May 29, 2015 by the grace of God.
But of all the support groups working for the election of Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, one group stands out. Yes! It stands out because of the uniqueness of the services it render to Enugu people on behalf of Hon. Ugwuanyi and the group is known as the Gburugburu Project Team (GPT). What made this group unique is the question I know that you my esteemed reader will ask me. Here is the reason but before then, a brief history of Gburugburu Project Team.
Gburugburu Project Team (GPT) was born on the 5th of February, 2014 with the intent of assessing those jostling to become the next Governor of Enugu State after the incumbent Governor, Sullivan Chime so as to select and work for the emergence of the best candidate who will carry on the good works of the incumbent Governor. Initially, this group was made up of 5 members but was later expanded to accommodate more members so as to make the work easier.
The group having enlarged its membership to over 400, has the following as patrons; Hon. Ogbo Asogwa (Igu Nome). Hon. Dubem Onyia, Hon. Emma Onoh, Hon. Chukwuma Ugwu, Ozo Jonh Ozokwor, Ozo Marcel Okwor, Dr. Uche Ugwuanyi, Hon. Iyke Ugwuegede and Hon. Chinedu Nwamba. It also has a State Coordinator and the State Executives, Local Government Coordinators and their Executives as well as Ward Coordinators and their Executives in various wards in Enugu State.
These people continued to meet on a monthly basis fine-tuning their strategy on how to go about the task ahead of them. As the PDP finally settled for Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as its Candidate for the coming Governorship Election, GPT was settling for Free Medical Outreach for the People of Enugu State so as to touch the lives of both the rural and urban populace. Do you now see why I said initially that of the various support groups working for the election of Hon. Ugwuanyi, GPT is unique in every sense of it.
Having settled for a free medical outreach for the entire people of Enugu State, the Medical Mission train kicked off at Ngwo for the Enugu North local government area from where it moved to Ugwuogo Nike for the Enugu East local government and from there it moved on to Egede in Udi local government after which it stopped over at Owerre Court for the Awgu Local government area of the state.
It did not end there as the train journeyed on to Ndiabo for the Aninri local government area from where it moved on to Aku for the Igbo-Etiti local government area and then to Eha Alumona for the Nsukka local government, from where it moved on to Nara in Nkanu East local government after which it moved on to Obofia for the Nkanu West local government and from there to Umumba Ndiuno for the people of Eziagu local government, then to Uwani for the people of Enugu South local government and finally to Ugbaike for the people Igboeze North local government area of the state.
As at the time of filing this report, 14 local government areas of the state had been visited remaining about 3 local government areas namely;Igboeze South, Oji River and Udenu local government areas to complete the free medical tour of Enugu State by GPT.
It may interest you to know that in each of the local government visited, the team which comprised of the Medical team and members of GPT has between 250 and 600 patients to attend to and over 5, 000 people have been covered by this mission so far and in most cases, the medical team which comprised of about 10 medical doctors, a number of Ophthalmologists, 15 Nurses, a number of medical laboratory scientists and members of the GPT would be gasping for breath as they battle with the surging crowd.
Also, the Free Medical Outreach treated all sorts of diseases ranging from hypertension to diabetes to infectious diseases leaving only the surgical aspects of the medical cases they came across. It may also interest you to know that all these treatments were free of charge. It did not end there as the GPT gave referral notes to patients whose cases were advanced like the cancer patients directing them to where they would go and get help and to some of them who were poor, members of GPT contributed money and gave to them so as to help them. Even at that, GPT members would follow up on those referred cases as well as go to the hospitals to which they were referred to, to plead on their behalf so that the cost will be reduced.
The group did not stop at treating the people of their ailments as they also delivered health talks to raise their level of awareness and their consciousness towards taking care of their health thereby making them feel better.
Speaking on the source of funding for the project, the Team Medical Officer of GPT, Dr. Friday Umeh said,” we personally source for fund on our own and do this. First and foremost, I must say thank you to Barr. Joe Chime of Sidom Pharmaceuticals Limited who has generously donated drugs to us worth almost N700, 000 and secondly, I must say kudos to Mr. Obodoeze Ocho, he has immensely been of great support to us on most of these outreach. And above all, I must congratulate and thank our members especially the executives who pinched themselves, brought out this money from their pockets and contributed to make sure that this project continued”.
“But so far, so good, the members of the executive have been the major financier of this project because we have been contributing our own personal money and time to make sure that this is a success because this is a dream, sometimes, you don’t wait for others to help you achieve your dream. This is a dream, our dream is not just to see people, our dream is one; Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s Success, two; that the health care of our people are well taken care of. We have other agenda but this is one aspect of it and we decided to put in our best into it to make sure that this dream did not die”.
“So, we strongly believe and hope that with his (Ugwuanyi’s) coming as the Governor, that this dream will not die and this will continue on a larger scale. With the government being involved, we can do much better and some daycare surgeries can be done there on the field like some cataract extraction can be done and people who came blind because of cataract can go home seeing with their eyes”.
On whether or not Hon. Ugwuanyi is aware of the project, Dr. Umeh disclosed that he was very much aware of the free medical outreach the group had embarked upon adding that he wanted to put in his money but the members of the group insisted they (GPT) did not come to ask for his money rather they only wanted him to be aware of what they were doing on his behalf as their own little way of contributing to his electioneering campaigns.
“If he can continue with a mobile clinic if he wins, we don’t mind, we will be there to work, to make sure that the essence of him being there is continued because at the end of the day, if you have a healthy people, it is better to govern, you govern them better”.
“His nod for us to go ahead is enough for us because if he had said that he doesn’t want it, it would have been a dead project but for him to say, go ahead, I want this to be, it is more than enough for us. So, the main man said this is something that is dear to his heart, healthcare of our people, then we took the bull by the horn”, he said.
On his part, the State Coordinator of GPT, Hon. Ejike Ugwuodo disclosed that it was expected that in each of the local government visited, the Mission would spend between N250, 000 and N300, 000 saying that so far, the Free Medical Mission has gulped N4.2 Million and that it was expected that by the end of the Mission, that it would have taken N5.1 Million not counting the donations from the good spirited individuals and corporate bodies that came to identify with them.
When asked whether the Project would end with the electioneering campaigns, Hon. Ugwuodo answered,” that is what we have in mind, we believe that in our meeting with our governorship candidate, if by the grace of God he is sworn in as the Governor, it is one of the proposals we are going to raise so that he can now adopt it as one of his agenda towards his governance”.
“To the people of Enugu State, the only thing I have to say to them is that I just want to thank them because so far, we have been going though politically motivated but we have not seen any violence, we always receive maximum cooperation of the people of the state in all the local government visited. People were very happy responding to our advice, responding to our mission. I will just say thank you to all the beneficiaries for their cooperation”, he added.
However, a cross-section of the beneficiaries of the Free Medical Scheme who spoke to Primetime Reporters showered prayers on Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and on the GPT for having deemed it fit to come to attend to their health needs, for having treated them free of charge from consultation to medication expressing their happiness over the gesture.
One of them, Mr. Nwome Nnaji said,” they gave us free eye glasses, free eye medication, anti-hypertension and to cap it up, what give us great joy is that most people who were not aware of their situation before coming here, now knew that all was not well with them”.
“A lot of people were diagnosed freshly of diabetes, of hypertension here on the field and they don’t know they have it and GPT gave them medication and still encouraged them to go to the hospital. They did not just gave them drugs and let them go home; they encouraged them to go to the hospital and promised to follow up on them. Indeed, God will surely bless them real good”.
As the Free medical outreach continues to tour the remaining 4 local government areas of Enugu state, the prayer on the lips of everyone in the state who had witnessed this trail blazing gesture is for Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to emerge the Governor of the state come April 11, 2015 since it has now become clear to them that a gesture such as this could only be sustained only if Hon. Ugwuanyi is returned as the Governor of the state.
Well, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi popularly known as Gburugburu has done his part for the people of Enugu state through GPT even though he is not in power yet, what is left for the people of Enugu state is to return the gesture back to him by doing the right thing cs that is voting massively for the sustenance of the free medical outreach because it is said that one good turn deserves another!
