₦420m Unused Specialist Hospital Precured by Presidency’s SDG, Vandalised Two Years After Completion in Oyo
The project, facilitated by a former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, was procured and paid for through the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (OSSAP-SGDs).
While Nigeria keeps grappling with terrible healthcare challenges, an 80-bed Mother and Child Specialist Hospital built and fully furnished in Pakiotan, Ogbomoso North Local Government Area of Oyo State, has been vandalised, with half of the equipment in it stolen, two years after being left unused.
The federal government facility, equipped with beds, drugs, laboratory equipment, and other medical consumables, was designed to serve as an urban health centre.
The project, facilitated by a former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, was procured and paid for through the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (OSSAP-SGDs).
Completed and inaugurated on May 27, 2023, and subsequently handed over to the Federal Ministry of Health through the University College Hospital, Ibadan, the facility has been neglected and unused, PIJAlance found.
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The Onipakiotan of Pakiotan, Oba James Ojo, told the newsmen on Wednesday that the vandalisation was possible because the entire facility has not been used since its commissioning.
A report noted that Oba Ojo recalled prior to the latest vandalism, some cables were vandalised even before the inauguration of the facility in 2023 and replaced by the former minister, Dare.
The monarch said, “The destruction of this infrastructure has become a major concern for the community and requires urgent and coordinated action.
“We must ensure that those who willfully destroy or vandalise public property are held accountable. As the saying goes, offenders must be brought to book or the book brought to them.
“Since the handover, nothing has been happening here. We have no access to the facility, and there’s no security.
“Recently, we noticed signs of intrusion, and when one of Dare’s aides joined us to inspect the site, we were shocked to discover that all the cables, 150 solar batteries, electrical appliances, ceiling fans, and other valuable items had been removed.”
He added that the eight plots of land for the hospital were released by the community to bring quality maternal and child healthcare closer to the people of the ancient city and its environs.
“However, the facility has remained idle for more than a year after commissioning,” he bemoaned. PIJAlance checked the payment details attached to the project. FG through OSSAP-SGDS paid four different contractors a sum totalling ₦420,109,613 for the project, later abandoned two years later.
The monarch, therefore, appealed to the ministry through UCH to either commence operations immediately or hand the hospital over to the community for proper management. “If the hospital had been put to use, such incidents would not have happened,” he said.
Also speaking, the Chairman of Ogbomoso North Local Government, Ogunlade Gbadegesin, expressed disappointment that such an edifice was abandoned, the Punch Newspaper reported. “So many valuable medical items have been looted, and others are at risk. “We will engage security personnel to safeguard what remains until the hospital is finally put into use,” he promised.
Meanwhile, a community newspaper, Ogbomoso Insight, has reported that some suspects have been arrested in connection with the incident.
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Sofiyyat Lawal
Sofiyyat is a seasoned journalist from Ibadan. She covers government procurement and key community and social issues.