By Nkechi Eze
The Director General of National Youth Service Corps, Brigadier General YD Ahmed has been conferred with Fellow of Nigerian Army Resource Centre, Abuja.
Director General of the Centre, Major General Garba Ayodeji Wahab (rtd) presented the certificate of investiture to General Ahmed at a ceremony held at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre.
At a lecture that preceded the investiture, Special Guest of Honour, Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Olufemi Oluyede, ably represented by Major General Ayoola Aboaba disclosed that the Nigerian Army is ready to set measures and mechanisms that would combat health security in Nigeria.
According to him, the enthronement of national health infrastructure depends on the availability of effective population data, noting that a robust and reserved health infrastructure that would strengthen the healthcare personnel is very essential, also the inclusion of a health database that would be of use during health emergencies.
“We have to make sure that the right health infrastructure is in place. It is only when you have the database of the population that you can adequately plan for health infrastructure”, he said.
Speaking after his investiture as a Fellow of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre, Brigadier General YD Ahmed expressed appreciation to the management of the centre for finding him worthy of the fellowship.
General Ahmed had once served as a Deputy Director at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre, Abuja.
The Guest Speaker, Dr Kumshida Yakubu Balami, a Public health expert and epidemiologist while delivering her lecture on Public Health and National Security in Nigeria, said everyone have the right to live healthy.
She also disclosed that health crises undermine a nation’s economic and developmental stability, while she advised that health surveillance is everyone’s business.
Dr Balami further stressed that efforts must be put in place to identify the key health threats affecting national security, such as humanitarian crises and terrorism in some parts of the country.
She thereafter appealed to the security agencies in the country to intensify their efforts on surveillance, early detection and response.
“We need a resilient national and local public health services, tightly integrated with primary healthcare and empowered communities”, She added.
