By Sunday Iduh
The Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry and the Principal, School of Health Technology, Agasha have been summoned to appear before the House on November 3rd, 2020 to explain the cause of the recent students demonstration at the School of Health Technology, Agasha
This was sequel to a motion of urgent public importance moved by the member representing Guma State Constituency, Hon. Williams Ortyom calling on the House to investigate the cause of students demonstration at the School of Health Technology, Agasha, Guma Local Government Area
The House also directed the Committee on Health and Human Services to carry out a thorough investigation to unravel the circumstances that led to the peaceful demonstration by the students and appealed to them to remain calm
Hon. Ortyom informed the House that ” on 2nd October, 2020, students of the School of Health Technology, Agasha staged a peaceful demonstration which lasted for one week to protest the unfair treatment by the school management for what they consider as a total neglect of the general welfare of students
“During the period of the demonstration, students locked the school gate which prevented access to the institution by the general public. There is a growing agitation among the students of the institution to resume demonstration unless attention is given to the issues that led to the demonstration timely and with dispatch,” he said
He explained that the school was established by law to train sundry medium level health workers to boost the manpower of the health sub-sector and expressed concern that the action of the students was an embarrassment to the state government, saying there was every need for the House to intervene to avert a re-occurrence
Hon. Baba Ode described the motion as apt and said it was very important for the House to rise to the occasion in view of the current happenings in the country to investigate what led to the grievance of the students
In another development, the House has called on the executive arm to resume regular funding of the Benue State Swine/Crop Improvement Project, Yandev to ensure its sustainability and expansion so that the project can generate enough revenue to fund itself and continue to fulfill the purpose for which it was established
The House took the decision following debate on the report of the House Standing Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources on her working visit to the Benue State Swine/Crop Improvement Project, Yandev
Leading the debate, the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Terwase Aondoakka disclosed that the Benue State Swine/Crop Improvement Project which operated efficiently from 2009 to 2014 as a result of adequate funding was grinding slowly due to poor funding by the state government, adding that nothing has been released to the project from the 2016, 2017 and 2019 budget sum
He noted that the Project was established to serve as a demonstration farm for farmers in the state and not solely for commercial. He said the essence of the farm was to encourage farmers to engage in Swine farming as the facilities on ground does not warrant expansion for revenue
Contributing, Hon. Williams Ortyom stated that the Project should be revived so that it can be used to train students of the Akperan Orshi Polytechnic on Swine farming in order for them to be self employed after graduation
House summon commissioner, others
