Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State has said collaboration between the Federal Government and states is the panacea to attaining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Governor Diri stated this, yesterday at the inauguration of a 100-bed mother and child hospital built through partnership between the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs and the state’s SDGs office at Azikoro Town, Yenagoa.

Noting that while no government can function in isolation without the support of the other, the governor commended President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the health facility in the state.

He said the project, named Dr Aisha Buhari Mother and Child Hospital, would address infant and maternal mortality.

He explained that although the state had a similar facility, it had to be converted to a COVID-19 centre at the height of the pandemic.

Senator Diri expressed the hope that the facility would be beneficial to people of the state, describing it as one of the fruitful results of the state’s collaboration with the Federal Government.

Earlier, Senior Special Assistant to President on SDGs, Dr. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, appreciated the president for providing the necessary support that ensured collaboration with the Bayelsa government, which fast-tracked the projects under the SDGs.