…says hospital unfit for occupation
The Ogun State government, on Thursday, debunked an online report alleging that it had abandoned the 250-bed State Hospital in Abeokuta it inherited from the Ibikunle Amosun administration amid efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
In the report in question, a partisan politician, one Mrs. Bisi Olumodimu, had alleged that, by not putting the hospital to use, Governor Dapo Abiodun was playing politics with a matter as serious as the coronavirus.
However, in a statement signed by the media aide to the Commissioner of Health, Mrs Bisi Oguntolu, the government said the report lacked substance and smacked of a crude effort to whip up undue sentiments and deliberately misinform the people.
The statement cautioned journalists to avoid being instruments in the hands of political jobbers and desperate politicians who are yet to wake up from the reality of their defeat both at the general election and various courts of law.
According to it, the hospital in question was constructed with Ogun State money and, as such, no people-friendly government would abandon such project.
It added that unlike the last administration in the State that never completed or showed concern to all projects left behind by its predecessor, the Abiodun administration never played politics with the commonwealth of its people, which was why it had put to use one of the Amosun 26 uncompleted “millennium schools ” by turning it into an ICT Hub within 100 days, whilst another one in Ikenne is being put into use and will soon be public.
According to the statement, the then governor, Ibikunle Amosun, hurriedly invited President Muhammdu Buhari to come and inspect the project on 25th May, 2019 in order to deceive the undiscerning members of the public that it had been commissioned while, in reality, it was in no state for occupation. This explains why the plaque read “ Inspected by President Mohammadu Buhari”
It said that even though over N7 billion was allegedly spent on the project, it was left uncompleted.
The statement said: “Governor Abiodun, upon assumption of office, set up a committee to look at the level of work done and advise the government appropriately. The committee’s report indicated that the hospital would need several months to be completed.
“The fact is that even though designed to have state of the art modern medical facilities when completed, the hospital is far from being in any useful state of functional completion for the critical urgent situation at hand.
“The building, in its existing physical state, is barely 60 per cent complete, and no floor is usable without affecting the unfinished construction process. Despite this it is on record that 2 weeks ago this Government invited all the contractors to see the how feasible it would be to complete this Hospital expeditiously to support other initiatives of Government to curb the Covid-19 Pandemic.
.”The Contractors advised it would take 5 months for the hospital to be in usable state. We even further looked at the possibility of using just the 10-bed ICU floor only. However Health professionals and consultants advised that this
would be in violation NSE standards in view of the current state of the building.
“The idea of putting and Intensive Care Unit in a part of the building on the second floor is ill-conceived, deceptive and a complete misnomer, because even the said floor is very far from being completed.”
“Worse still, the contractors are asking for variations when the over N7 billion already spent couldn’t be accounted for. The underhand dealings with the contracts were mind-boggling. We deliberately kept quiet, but will make open the evil and wicked transaction that is robbing our people opportunity of a viable hospital.
‘’The public is advised to ignore the claims of politicians who peddle fake news to gain cheap popularity in the state.
