2nd January, 2022
Mrs Helen Okotie, a mother of triplets whose babies were the second set of deliveries at Gbaja Maternal and Child Care Hospital, Surulere, Lagos for the new year has appealed to the Speaker of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila for support to take care of the new bundles of blessings.
Mrs Okotie, arguably, the mother of first set of triplets to be born in Lagos in 2022, spoke after the Speaker presented gifts to her and her babies when he visited the hospital located in his Surulere I Federal Constituency, to spend time with the babies born on the New Year and their mothers on Saturday.
While thanking Gbajabiamila for the gifts and the visit, Okotie who just graduated from the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, however, appealed to the speaker to always support the family.
“I thank Speaker Gbajabiamila for this great gesture and I want to appeal to him to support the family.
“I graduated from Yaba College of Technology last year, awaiting youth service. We are happy about the coming of the triplets, but we will need the speaker to support us.
“We want scholarship for them when they start schooling and we pray for Speaker Gbajabiamila to do this and bless others in this area,” she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Baby Lateefat, a female, was the First Baby of the Year at the facility.
She was born at exactly 12.00 a.m on Saturday and weighed 3.2kg at birth.
Received by Madewa Adebayo, the Medical Director of the facility and other staff, Gbajabiamila commended management of the hospital for working hard to improve healthcare delivery in the area.
Gbajabiamila congratulated the mother of the first baby, Mrs Latifat Jimoh, for the safe delivery and the family for the “great gift from God”.
The speaker then gave them various gifts, including cash, bags of rice, diapers to the baby and the family.
Gbajabiamila later went round to see other babies born in the facility and spent time with them and their parents.
Congratulating Mrs Helen Okotie, mother of the triplets, the speaker presented gifts to the Okotie babies, all females, and promised to support the family.
Also, in an interview with NAN, Mrs Lateefat Jimoh, mother of the first baby at the facility, thanked Gbajabiamila for the visit.
Jimoh, who could not hold back tears of joy, said she was pleasantly surprised by the speaker’s visit and the love he had shown to the baby and the family.
“I am positively overwhelmed. I do not know what to say for now other than to thank the speaker for the visit and the love he has shown to my family.
“May God continue to bless him to do much more for the people of Surulere,” she said.
Also, Mr Maruf Jimoh, father of the baby, told NAN that he was excited about the speaker’s visit, saying that he and his family felt loved by the gesture.
“I feel so excited; I feel a sense of belonging as a citizen of this country. I feel much loved by the gesture from the speaker.
“I am grateful to God for touching the heart of the speaker to embark on this kind of thing. I appreciate him and pray to God to always be with him,” he said.
Gbajabiamila, said he will continue to support health facilities in his Surulere I Federal Constituency, Lagos, to further impact on healthcare delivery.
The speaker, later embarked on an inspection tour of ongoing projects he facilitated for his constituency in Surulere.
Some of the projects he inspected to ascertain their completion level and quality were the expansion of Babs Animashaun Road and Bridge; rehabilitation of Randle Avenue and work on the upgrade of Gbaja Primary Healthcare Centre at Iyun Road in Surulere.
He also inspected the ongoing work at a hostel at the University of Lagos, his alma mater.
Commenting, during his inspection visit to Babs Animashaun Road, Gbajabiamila commended the pace of work on the project as well as its quality.
He, however, urged the contractor handling the project to further expedite work to meet the delivery deadline.
“I want you to continue to work at the pace at which you are working.
“I can see and imagine the quality of work going on here and I hope your June completion date is realisable.
“If you can move it back to May it is even better because this is something we promised the people of this neighbourhood and we need to deliver in good time.
“Once again, I commend you for what you have done, it looks good. I am sure by the time you are done, it will even look better,” he said.