Investigate The Looting of FG Facility by Officials of Osun State Government
– State APC Tasks FG
The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has alerted the Federal Government to beam her searchlight on the ongoing looting of the federal hospital in Osogbo and sharp practices in the accreditation of some medical courses in the Osun State University Teaching Hospital by the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke.
It would be recalled that some concerned citizens raised an alarm days ago that individuals believed to be part of Governor Adeleke’s administration had allegedly invaded the Nigerian Federal Government’s Mother and Child care Hospital located at Oke-Oniti Osogbo to cart away all medical equipment kept in the facility, possibly in anticipation of an accreditation team’s inspection visit to the University of Osun Teaching Hospital in Osogbo.
Surprisingly, the Osun State Government through the Chief Medical Director of Uniosun Teaching Hospital, Dr Babatunde Afolabi, has today confirmed the allegation that the equipment was moved from the Federal Government facility to the state teaching hospital for the purpose of accreditation.
According to Afolabi: “Recently, equipment was relocated from the centre to the main hospital for postgraduate accreditation purposes, following due process involving relevant units, including Assets Management, Audit, and Clinical departments. The equipment will be returned to the centre after the accreditation exercise, which commences tomorrow.”
He stated further in the statement released to the media to clarify the allegation that: “The Mother and Child care Hospital at Oke-Oniti is an extension of UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital Osogbo and was handed over to us three years ago. The hospital awaits IBEDC connection and staffing to commence operations.”
He also confirmed that medical items at the centre were reported stolen last year and investigation launched to unravel the stealing had not been completed.
First, that the investigation of stealing is still ongoing since last year suggests internal sabotage. The state government must come clean on this development.
Two, what could be deduced from the CMD’s statement is that the Federal Government facility has been abandoned in the last three years given the fact that the state government has not connected power to the centre just as it has not recruited health professionals to work there.
The most scandalous of it all is the confirmation that the state government moved equipment from the Federal Government centre to the state teaching hospital to satisfy the requirements for postgraduate accreditation exercise starting tomorrow.
Why did the state government remove the equipment from a federal government centre to shore up its infrastructural deficiencies? Why didn’t the state government purchase its own equipment? This raises serious concerns about the commitment of the Governor Adeleke government to the health needs of the citizens. How are we sure the previously “stolen” equipment was not converted for the use of the teaching hospital?
The Mother and Child care Hospital in Osogbo was commissioned in 2022 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) initiative of late President Muhammadu Buhari aimed at improving maternal and child health in Osun State.
The hospital at commissioning had over 100-bed capacity, four labour rooms, operating theatres, VIP wards and offices, fully equipped.
It is disheartening that the state government has allowed the centre to deplore while facilities installed there are daily looted by the state government officials to fraudulently bring glory to the state government.
We, as a party, are hereby alerting the Federal Government of the seeming political undertone around the centre and also imploring the Federal Government as a matter of urgency to devise a strategy to recover her equipment in the custody of Osun State Government and revamp the centre for effective use of the citizens.
e-SIGNED:
*Mogaji KOLA OLABISI, Osun State APC Director of Media and Information.*
