President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan on Saturday led a delegation of the Senate to the 44 Nigeria Army Reference Hospital in Kaduna to show empathy for the Wounded In Action(WIAs) who were brought there from the various theater of operations.
The visit was part of the activities to commemorate the second anniversary of the ninth Senate. Similar visit was also paid to the Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs) camp at Wassa, the suburb of the Capital City of Abuja on Thursday.
The delegation to the military Hospital was received on arrival by the GOC 1 Division, Major General Danjuma Alikeffi and the Acting Medical Director of the Hospital, Colonel Stephen Onochukwu.
Speaking to the patients in one of the ward, Lawan said: “We have come to see by ourselves, the situation and conditions of our Wounded In Action and other patients in this Reference Hospital.
He commended the soldiers for sacrificing their lives for the integrity of their fatherland and announced the donation of N10million for the hospital.
He also assured that the National Assembly will ensure that more funds are allocated to the Armed Forces in the 2022 budget.
“The Senate wishes all our patients here speedy recovery and I want to assure you on behalf of all of us in the Senate and indeed in the National Assembly, that we are with you.
“We are with our military. We will continue to give all the support that is necessary. Infact, we want to upscale our support because the situation today in the country requires that our Armed Forces are better resourced for better results.
“On behalf of all of us in the National Assembly, I want to express our concern and care for those who have been wounded on behalf of all of us because you have given your all to defend the integrity of this country and I believe that the nation will continue to be very grateful to you.”
“Our Armed Forces deserve all the support from the government. Our Armed Forces deserve the support of all the citizens of Nigeria because they are fighting on our behalf. To do otherwise is to be unfair to the Armed Forces.
“Our expectations as citizens are very high, that this country is defended by our Armed Forces. Therefore we have to give the Armed Forces what they require.
“We may not be able to give everything because we don’t have enough but we must, as a country, put in more resources because everything rests on peace and security.”
Lawan, on behalf of the Senate, announced a donation of N10 million to assist the hospital.
Over 200 soldiers have sustained various degrees of injuries at the battlefield and are currently receiving treatment at the hospital.
The soldiers sustained injuries ranging from a leg amputation, loss of sight and sound, etc, at the theatre of operation while fighting the Boko Haram insurgents in the northeast and bandits in the North West Geopolitical zone.
The Acting Medical Director, Colonel Stephen Onochukwu thanked Senate for the visit and added that it would be a morale booster for the Wounded In Action(WIAs).
Briefing the lawmakers, the General officer Commanding One Mechanized Division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Danjuma Ali-Keffi said some of the wounded soldiers lost their arms, legs and sight as a result of the severe injuries they sustained in the battlefield.
They disclosed that some of the victims were responding to treatment, while many others sustained permanent injuries that have rendered them incapacitated.
The federal lawmakers joined by Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, went round the hospital wards where the wounded soldiers were being treated.
Other members of the delegation were the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, Chief Whip, Orji Uzor Kalu, Deputy Senate Leader, Ajayi Borofice, Senate Deputy Chief Whip Sabi Abdullahi, Senate Deputy Minority Whip, Sahabi Ya’u and the
Chairman, Senate Services Committee, Senator Sani Musa.
