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• I’m sorry, no comment, says facilitator
By Oluseye Ojo
•The health centre before name change
In March 2024, a post on social media went viral, highlighting the appalling state of a primary health centre built by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) in Akano Community, near Olunde, in Oluyole Local Government Area of Oyo State.
Then, torrents of comments followed the post, which was created by one Sanya Adejokun, on his Facebook wall. It was a mix of abusive comments against the government and the community on why such primary health centre would be built and would not be put to use.
The post by Sanya Adejokun, which he backed up with pictures, read: “This is the primary health centre completed by NPHCDA for a large community in Oluyole Local Government, Oyo State more than two years ago. It has remained under lock and key since then. There are no staff to attend to citizens.
•Stephen Oladele, the President, Akano Community
“Why spend money on projects that will not be put to use? And this is a semi-urban community with the nearest hospital many kilometres away.”
The turn of event made Saturday Sun to visit the community and also get comments from the facilitator of the health centre and the Oyo State Government on the non-functioning status of the health centre with a view to finding out the factual truth on the project.
Many questions came up in the mind of the reporter, including why the facility was abandoned, how could NPHCDA be running a health centre in Ibadan, what has the community done to make it functional, and what the Oyo State Primary Health Care Board is doing to revive the facility?
The inscriptions on the signboard that went viral on the social media read thus: ‘National Primary Health Care Development Agency Hospital, Akano/Olunde, Ibadan. Presented by Akano Community.’
But when Saturday Sun visited the community, it was discovered that the inscriptions on the signboard has changed to: ‘Akano Primary Health Care Centre, Aba Akano Community, Oluyole Local Government, Oyo State.’
Findings revealed that the primary health centre was facilitated as a constituency project by Hon Ibrahim Olaifa, who represented Oluyole Federal Constituency on the platform of Accord Party from 2011 to 2015.
The project, according to Akano Community, began in 2012 and was partially completed in 2014. The community added that the facility suffered abandonment from 2014 to 2023, a period of about nine years.
The President of Akano Community Development Association, Israel Oladele, explained what happened. He said: “It is a federal project, brought by Hon Ibrahim Olaifa, a former member of House of Representatives from Oluyole Federal Constituency. He brought the project in 2012 and the community provided the land and some other things.
“But the contractor that was given the project to build did not finish everything. It remained the borehole and some other things.
“By the time Olaifa left the House of Representatives, that health centre was not properly handed over to the primary healthcare board of Oyo State, which is the normal thing he had to do then.
“After Olaifa left, the place remained as it was. After sometime, thieves broke into the health centre, and they stole the electrical wiring and everything there. So, we wrote a letter to the Oluyole Local Government to assist us. Up till now, there has been nothing from them.”
Oladele also highlighted the efforts he has made to ensure that the health centre is functional as soon as possible.
“When I became the president of the community in May 2023, I decided to take up the matter after so many years. I went to the Oyo State Primary Health Care Board and submitted a letter to them on reviving the health centre. In the letter, I intimated the board about the health centre, and that they should come to our aid.
“The Executive Secretary of the board, based on the letter, directed me to the Director in charge of Logistics. The Director came to inspect the health centre, and he told us that they did not even know that this place is existing in the record of the board.
“So, he advised us to gather ourselves together, replace the electrical wiring, provide water and so on, if we want the place to be functional.
“We called the entire community, held meetings, and we contributed money. We did the electrical wiring. Then, the Muslim Community gathered themselves together, contributed money, and dug a well for the health centre. The Christians also gathered themselves together, contributed money, and provided storage tank for water in the health centre.
“Then, we went back to the primary health care board. We told them that we had done what they asked us to do on the health centre, and that they should come to our aid.
“The Director of Logistics in the board came again to the health centre. He saw everything that we have done. He remarked that we have tried. He said he would write a report to the Executive Secretary of the board on the project.”
But what actually informed the name change for the health centre? Oladele stated that the Director in charge of Logistics told the community that the standard practice is for every primary health centre to bear the name of the community in which it is sited.
Oladele continued: “It was on that day that the Director came to our community that he saw the first signboard. We were the ones who erected it. He said it is the name of our community that should be on the signboard. He asked me to check other communities, where they have health centres and that I would discover that all of them have been named after the communities where they were built.
“So, I went to other communities and checked. I noticed that the health centres were named after each community, though the communities were not the ones that built them.
“Health centres can be built either by federal, state, or local government. But it will bear the name of that community. It was then we changed what we wrote on the signboard in front of our primary health centre in Akano Community. We changed the name on the signboard in the first week of April, this year.”
But how large is Akano Community that has been described as semi-urban? Oladele answered: “We have 10 zones in this community. Each of the zones has a chairman. But I am the overall President of the entire community.
“The residents of this community should be between 150,000 and 200,000. There are some zones that have up to 100, 120, and 150 houses. The nearest primary health centre to Akano Community is at Olunde and the location is many kilometres away from us.
“We shall appreciate the assistance of the primary health care board in Oyo State towards making the health centre functional. When it is functional, it will serve the population of 150,000 to 200,000 people. Also, people in the neighbouring communities can also benefit from it.
“But so far, we appreciate the positive response of the primary health care board in the state. We believe that the good work, which the board has started, will be completed and our health centre will be functional.”
When contacted, the Executive Secretary, Primary Health Care Board in the state, Dr. Muideen Olatunji, said: “I am aware of the issue about the health centre in Akano Community. But the point is that there are so many projects like that, in which somebody would facilitate federal intervention without contacting the state.
“The state knew nothing about it. We did not know when they started it. Nobody in the state is aware of the conceptualisation, siting, and location.
“When you have now finished it, you want the state to take it over. The state itself has its own burden. We have a lot of facilities that we have not yet run maximally because of the paucity of staff.
“Health staff are leaving the country. We don’t have enough, even the ones that are there now, some of them are retiring. The government is trying to see if they can recruit.
“For now, we have not been able to man the government facilities that we are even running now adequately. You are now asking us to put an additional burden that you did not even tell us before you did it, which I think is not proper. That protocol, for me, is wrong.
“The community said they wanted us to take it over. I told them that we don’t have enough personnel. But anything can be done by thinking outside the box. So, I have asked the Director in charge of Logistics in this board to give me a report on the health centre. But I have not seen the report. When I see the report, the board will do the right thing.”
The reporter also contacted the facilitator of the project, Hon Ibrahim Olaifa, to make comment on the issues. He simply said; “I’m sorry, no comment.”
Chairman of the Landlord Association in Zone IV of the community, Rasheed Sakirudeen, and some traders as well as residents of the community also appealed to the Oyo State Governemnt to help the community by ensuring that the Akano Primary Health Care Centre is functional.
