1. As today draws the curtain on the tenure of the 9th Senate, I wish to extend my profound gratitude to Almighty Allah for His divine guidance which has strengthened us to scale through the legislative journey over the last four years.

2. With a grateful heart, I appreciate the unwavering cooperation and support of my constituents who accorded me the honour to represent their interest at the Senate. It's indeed a pleasure and privilege to have been provided with the avenue to initiate and espouse various resolutions that accelerate the development of our Senatorial District, the State and the Nation as a whole.

3. I am today modestly fulfilled with the honour that has been brought to the confidence you reposed in my ability to effect a positive change, on the premise of which I sought the mandate of your votes. Through legislation, I have pursued a vision that guarantees an elevation from the realm of expectations to the spotlight of actualization. The modest feats recorded in this effort are ascribable to your consistent support and overwhelming goodwill.

4. The four-year journey has been very eventful, momentous and historic. As we step aside today, I feel extremely honoured to thank the leadership of the Senate for considering my choice worthy to assume the chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Health. It is a privilege to which I attached significance and considered a challenge to transcend boundaries in the course of delivering impactful service to the people. I also extend my esteem gratitude to my distinguished colleagues in the 9th Senate and Honorable Members of the House of Representatives for their overwhelming supports and cooperation throughtout our time in the Hallow chambers.

5. In the pursuit of the bid to promote public service delivery and elevate the living conditions of the people through the instrumentality of the legislature, I initiated and advanced several motions of public importance and sponsored no fewer than fifteen bills among which eleven fulfilled the legislative obligations, as seven of them were concurred to by the House of Representatives while four were assented to by the President and ultimately brought a blessing to the general wellness.

5. All these proposals which have since been signed into law represented significant milestones in the quest to strengthen our health system whose successful reform would hasten the pace of national economic growth and development.

6. First of those assented bills is the bill to " Amend the Psychiatric Hospital Management Board Act Cap P34 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, to establish Federal Psychiatric Hospital Budo-egba, Kwara State (SB 376)", the implementation of this proposal culminated in the establishment of Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital (FNPH), Budo-Egba, Kwara State, this is the first of which to be established in the entire North Central region, and the first Federal Government institution to be established in Kwara State since 1992. The health facility has since commenced operation and absorbed a significant number of our people for economic prosperity whilst projecting the host community on the national map of socio-economic advancement. It is fulfilling to have achieved this critical breakthrough in our collective aspiration to engender sustainable development and create opportunities that arrest receding hope and better the lots of our people.

7. It is my abiding conviction that access to quality health services shouldn't be restricted by financial barriers. Motivated by this belief, I sponsored the bill for an "Act to repeal the National Health Insurance Scheme Act, Cap. N42 L.F.N. 2004 and to enact the National Health Insurance Authority Bill, 2019" which was eventually passed and signed into law. The assent to this proposal bears appreciable complement to the drive to attain Universal Health Coverage where everyone, regardless of socioeconomic status, enjoys equitable access to effective and efficient healthcare services. In addition, other key outcomes in the Act include; making health insurance mandatory for all residents of Nigeria; providing access to a basic minimum package of health through insurance; making provision for Vulnerable Group Funds to cater for 83million of vulnerable Nigerians; coordinating and integrating various public and private health insurance schemes, and use of digital technology to drive health insurance operations.

8. Given the sad reality of the inadequacies that the scourge of covid-19 pandemic exposed in our health sector, I considered it imperative to initiate legislation, which has since been signed into law, that facilitates the integration of traditional and alternative medicine into the national healthcare delivery system. With this law, the Federal College of Traditional Complementary and Alternative Medicine will become a legal institution and an agency under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Health, acting as an agent of catalyst, through training, research and innovation for effective and economic utilization and conservation of complementary and alternative medicine; develop and offer academic and professional programs leading to the award of diplomas, higher national diplomas and other deserving certificates in the field of complementary and alternative medicine and other related courses; organize research relevant to training in complementary and alternative medicine.

9. The most recent of the signed bills is the proposal to protect persons with mental health needs and establish a Department of Mental Health in the Federal Ministry of Health for effective management of mental health in Nigeria and other related matters. Before now, there was no Mental Health Law in place in Nigeria other than the Regional Lunacy Law of 1918, which in content and context violated the fundamental human rights of persons with mental health and psychosocial disabilities. The law makes provision for the enhancement and regulation of mental health and substance abuse services and would ultimately cast aside the challenges that perpetuate the social stigma of mental illness. Other key focuses of the act include; protecting the rights of persons with mental health disorders; integrating mental health care into regular health care services, and provision of mental health services at the primary health level.

10. In our quest to make people-centred healthcare accessible at the grassroots, I facilitated the comprehensive renovation of dozens of Primary Health Centers and equipped each of them in a manner that guarantees improved health outcomes. This is further intensified with free medical outreach programs, an initiative that took place annually for three consecutive years in at least four different PHC facilities at each of the four Local Government Areas that constitute our constituency, it was facilitated to ensure a healthy society.

11. Also, in our quest to take health care services to the grassroots for the benefit of our people, I facilitated the first-ever Ilorin Mobile Health Clinic with an ambulance well-equipped with state-of-the-art facilities to serve the five Local Government Areas that made up Ilorin Emirate. The ambulance is under the supervision of UITH. And also, to deepen access to healthcare in rural areas and ease mobility in the case of emergency, we provided tricycle ambulances for selected PHCs in our Senatorial District.

12. Through my privileged position as Chairman Senate Committee on Health, I was able to among other interventions facilitated the construction of offices for two important government agencies in our constituency, the agencies are; National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), and National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) situated at Fate/Basin area, and Offa Garage/ Afon junction respectively. Also notably facilitated was the construction of a Comprehensive Health Centre, Idi-isin which has been since transformed into an outstation of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) under whose authority its operation is being managed. The Idi-Isin Centre is also now a Federal Government Emergency Medical Centre and it will benefit from the Oxygen Plant supply.

13. Considerably, we have made several interventions in the education sector to reinforce teaching and strengthen learning environments for better educational outputs. Through these interventions, we have facilitated the construction of blocks of classrooms equipped with furniture to tens of schools, the distribution of instructional materials and laboratory equipment for effective learning and the deployment of ICT gadgets to enhance the technological skills of the students. We also provided scholarships to hundreds of our constituents at undergraduate and postgraduate levels as well as external exam fees payment for thousands of constituents.

14. For economic engagements, we established a poverty alleviation scheme to liberate our people from the cycle of poverty. We were committed to the objectives of this scheme with maximum priority on the conduct of the needs assessment from which the choice empowerment stemmed to achieve the purpose. To the glory of God, we have been able to empower thousands of constituents with sustainable livelihoods that enhance productivity and economic autonomy. In addition to that and to the glory of God, we facilitated jobs for over three hundred of our constituents across the Federal institutions in the country.

15. Through our water intervention projects, about seventy-five motorized boreholes were dug to cater for hundreds of communities while we restored the working condition of hundreds of others in different communities. Similarly, we made provision for a Mini Water Treatment Plant at the newly approved Muhammad Kamalud-deen University, Ogidi, Ilorin, as we also provided Toilet and Wash facilities to some other communities.

16. In the same vein, we carried out a rural electrification project at Alakawa Village, Asa LGA to connect over thirty communities to the National grid as we facilitated not less than forty electricity transformers and hundreds of solar streetlights to different communities in our constituency.

17. Our representation also touched on the erosion control and rural road grading to ease mobility for our people and to make easy the transportation of their agricultural products to the town.

18. In our quest to ensure participatory representation that creates room for communication interchange between us and the constituents, we engendered the culture of town hall meetings to allow the constituents to articulate their concerns and further afford us access to their compelling needs which ultimately would form the basis of the interventions to be pursued. We convened this important gathering annually and made it open to everyone and ensure improved engagements with the constituents. Similarly, we sponsored a radio program to enlighten the constituents on the roles of the legislators whilst using the avenue to give periodic accounts of our stewardship.

19. I am grateful to the members, stakeholders, and the leadership of our party, All Progressive Congress for affording me the platform to pursue my enduring aspiration to contribute my quota to the developmental trajectory of our constituency. I equally appreciate the wholehearted cooperation and support from our traditional rulers, religious leaders and professional associates for standing by us throughout this journey.

20. Lastly, whilst my four years tenure as a Senator ends today, you will for the next one year continue to enjoy the proceeds of my representation through several projects which we input into the year 2023 budget.

21. To all residents of Kwara Central; for your love, compassion, overwhelming goodwill, cooperation and support, I am eternally grateful and assure you of my unending service to the cause of humanity. It is my prayer that God propels our State to the path of greatness and shower His blessings on our various endeavours.

Sen. Dr Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe,
Chairman, Senate Committee on Health,
Senator Representing Kwara Central (2019-2023),
June 8th, 2023