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GOVERNOR Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has been honoured with a Covid-19 Response Champion award by the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) in recognition of his work in combating the spread of the virus.
Nigeria has by and large been spared the worst of the pandemic as the number of casualties has been low. However, several states have taken good precautionary action to prevent the spread of the virus, including introducing robust protocols, providing isolation centres and ensuring they provide hand sanitizers.
During the recent AMLSN’s 15th National Annual Public Health Lecture Series, in Abuja, its president, Professor James Garba Damen, said Governor Ugwuanyi deserved the award. He added that it was a well deserved honour, stressing that the medical body chose the governor after a painstaking and objective assessment of his administration’s commitment towards the containment of the pandemic.
Professor Damen added: “Your Excellency Ugwuanyi, we did not choose you just for the sake of choosing you. We chose you because we carefully monitored your administration’s activities and response rate in the heat of the pandemic.
“We monitored how you deployed resources swiftly, trained and motivated health workers and enlightened the public. All these indices informed our decision to honour you today. We wish to encourage you to keep showing diligence to duty and demonstrating great empathy to people’s safety.”
Present at the event was Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, the director-general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), who was the guest speaker and the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Dr Ibrahim Oloriebe, who chaired the occasion. Responding after receiving the award, Governor Ugwuanyi, expressed gratitude to the association for recognising the achievements his administration saying it has encouraged him to continue delivering the dividends of democracy to the people of Enugu State, in spite of the nation’s challenges.
