It was a cool afternoon on Saturday, September 10, 2023. After a bumpy and tiring ride from Sango Ota, the motorcyclist conveying this reporter screeched to a halt at Itekun road in Igbesa, Ado-Odo Ota local government area (LGA), Ogun state.
Situated on the hustling and bustling road connecting Igbesa and Itekun, another town in Ado-Odo Ota LGA, is a 20-bed primary health centre (PHC).
In 2022, Gloria Ajayi’s joy knew no bounds when it was announced that the project would be constructed to improve access to quality healthcare in the area.
For long, women, children, and others in the area have experienced nightmares of getting quality healthcare. Gloria, a peasant farmer in the area, told Legit.ng she and others depend on herbal concoctions and services of private healthcare providers when they are sick.
Due to this, hopes blossomed when construction of the project, facilitated by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs Nigeria (OSSAP-SDGs), commenced.
But Gloria’s hopes and those of other residents were dashed when the facility was abandoned after completion.
“It has remained this way since they completed it; no one has been able to use it. In this community, we live at death’s mercy,” Gloria lamented.
The multi-million naira project rotting away
The OSSAP-SDGs is responsible for the coordination and policy formulation of programmes designed to achieve the 2030 SDGs Agenda adopted by all United Nations member states in Nigeria. One core of the 17-point agenda adopted by countries in 2015 is good health and well-being.
On October 24, 2022, data from Govspend, an initiative of BudgIT, the Nigerian civic organisation promoting transparency and active citizen engagement, showed the OSSAP-SDGs paid the sum of ₦27,657,262.43 to Ocean Mines and Exploration Ltd to construct one 20-bed PHC with external works at Igbesa town in Ado-Ota LGA, Igbesa, Ogun state.
The same day, the OSSAP-SDGs paid ₦37,349,020.00 to the same company to equip the facility.
Findings by Legit.ng, however, showed that the facility – which should be a game-changer for residents in terms of quality health – is lying fallow.
Over a year after it was awarded and months after its completion, the project has yet to be commissioned.
When the reporter visited the project, parts of the facility had been taken over by bush.
A community leader in Igbesa, identified as Baba Pupa, said the project was designed to benefit residents from 15 areas, including Igbesa and Itekun.
He, however, lamented its non-utilisation after completion. “People have terrible experiences accessing healthcare due to the state of the project. The project was completed around 2022. There are around 15 communities expected to benefit from the project.”
Apart from improving access to healthcare, many residents expected the facility to create job opportunities for them.
Sade, a trader in Igbesa, told Legit.ng: “We’re on the lookout for jobs. Sadly, the place is now covered with bushes; it has been furnished. The facility would be of great benefit to us when it becomes functional. At least, cleaners, secretaries, gatemen, among others, will be engaged.”
No single hospital, herbal concoction to the rescue: Welcome to Ogun
Chief Emmanuel Abiodun, the traditional ruler of Oke-Agbeji, a community in Itekun, is one of those who are livid over the non-utilisation of the project.
“We don’t have a single functional government PHC here at the moment. We depend on patent and proprietary medicine vendors (PPMVs), also known as chemists and other private health care providers when we are sick,” he lamented.
He said about 10 years ago, the community attempted to build a PHC through joint efforts, but the project did not materialise. Abiodun said the 20-bed PHC by the federal government would have benefited residents of Itekun and other surrounding communities, but its non-utilisation has left people vulnerable to sickness.
“We’re not benefiting from it (the PHC), but God has not abandoned us. We’re looking unto God. They have completed and fully equipped the project. What is left is the commissioning of the project, but you know the government, you cannot say when they will come,” he added.
“The government only remembers this place when it’s time for an election. Just imagine the state of the road you (addressing this reporter) used while coming here. We usually fix the roads ourselves. We are suffering.”
