is Although about N6.6 billion was allocated for 160 projects between 2015 and 2018 in various communities in the three senatorial districts and six federal constituencies in Ekiti State by lawmakers, PREMIUM TIMES and UDEME reports the poor execution of these projects and abandonment of others.
After a series of budgetary analyses, and careful review of documents, the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), through its UDEME project determined that the way these sponsored projects were designed from the budget stage, through implementation, is mired in controversy with many ‘unclear’.
In the 2015 budget document of constituency projects for Ekiti State, 16 projects estimated to cost N783 million has only four projects with unambiguous descriptions. PTCIJ and UDEME observed that 12 of these 16 projects are tagged “strategic empowerment, vocational training, etc. meant for various communities in Ekiti.” The language is so abstract that one finds it difficult to understand the purpose, a review shows.
The trend did not stop that year as only about 30 of 65 different projects for the sum of N3.1 billion in 2016 have clear descriptions and locations.
Examples of such projects in that year include a N155 million allocation for the construction of solar powered boreholes spread across rural communities in Ekiti South Senatorial District. Particularly confusing is the allocation of N148 million for unquantifiable ”training and capacity building programme in Ekiti Central Senatorial District”.
In 2017, N3 billion was allocated for 80 projects spread across constituencies in Ekiti State but in the usual manner, only 25 projects have clear descriptions with another N1 billion for 30 projects tagged “Strategic Empowerment and Training of Youths/Women” in various communities in Ekiti State.
Apart from documents review and data analyses, months of rigorous field reporting revealed how public funds were expended on poorly-executed, uncompleted and abandoned projects across communities in Ekiti State.
Located on a highest elevation in the Irepodun /Ifelodun LGA of Ekiti State, the PHC in Iropora has been ababdoned since 2015. Iropora Primary Health Centre looks like a poultry farm as materials used for the abandoned construction are left to lie in ruins.
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Members of the community (a population of over 10,000) who spoke with this reporter narrated how joyous they were four years ago when the foundation of a community healthcentre was laid.
The constituency project was nominated by the lawmaker representing Ado Ekiti/Irepodun/Ifelodun Federal Constituency of Ekiti State at the lower chambers of the National Assembly under the supervision of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA).
Having survived for years with only one PHC, their hope for a better facility dissolved as the project funded in the 2015 Zonal Intervention Project of the National Assembly for N12 million remains dilapidated four years after.
The Oniropora of Iropora Ekiti, Joel Olonibua, expressed displeasure about the bad state of the healthcare centre.
“This project you just talked about reminded me of like four years ago when we released the land for government so they can help build a community healthcare centre for the benefit of the community.
“The project has remained uncompleted, let me even say abandoned since then. The building started about four years ago, but cannot be completed before the last legislative house expired. So the project has been abandoned since then,” he said.
He said the abandonment has caused harm as residents go to Ido Ekiti, or Ado Ekiti for healthcare.
Another resident who identified himself as Rilwan Sanusi corroborated the monarch’s account. He however said: “We call on the government to come to our rescue and complete the abandoned health care centre.”
The only alternative PHC in the community had only one staffer on duty when PREMIUM TIMES visited.
The lady who spoke under the condition of anonymity said: “we don’t have adequate staff. Like now, I’m the only one around. If there’s emergency, I will have to call colleagues who are not on morning duty to come and help. We have a matron, but she’s not in town, we don’t have a pharmacist and so it has affected our work really.”
The only healthcare centre in Iropora The only healthcare centre in Iropora
“The guard we had in the past was killed by armed robbers sometime in 2014. Since then, we haven’t had another. And you know, we need security guards so we can work without fear or panic,” she added.
The same sad scenario was obtainable at the Igede Ekiti PHC as construction of its primary healthcare centre whose funding was appropriated in the 2015 has been abandoned and turned into an uncompleted building.
At the site of the project, it was difficult walking through as the multi-million naira project had been abandoned for years and is outgrown by grasses. At one point, this reporter was unsure if there were no wild animals domiciled there. N12 million was appropriated for the project.
Members of the community say the only available healthcare facility for them is a privately-owned hospital that is expensive to patronise.
When this reporter visited the palace of the Onigede of Igede Ekiti, a domestic staffer expressed disappointment over how the facility was abandoned.
UDEME can authoritatively report that in the 2015 zonal intervention project budget, N24 million was appropriated for the construction of two primary health care centres in Igede Ekiti and Iropora Ekiti to be implemented by NPHCDA.
The state of the two projects confirmed work indeed started but was later abandoned.
Abandoned Igede healthcare centre
Interestingly, despite the abandoned state of the two projects, there was another N12 million budgetary allocation provided for the completion of the primary healthcare centre located in Igede Ekiti.
