FCT Administration hides collapsed hospital building
Utako hospital under construction for about 10 years is now overgrown with weeds. The hospital project was to have been completed and put to use long ago. The constructor was asked to construct and equip the hospital. But while doing the job, Differential Settlement occurred resulting in collapse of part of a structure prompting authorities […]
Utako hospital under construction for about 10 years is now overgrown with weeds. The hospital project was to have been completed and put to use long ago. The constructor was asked to construct and equip the hospital. But while doing the job, Differential Settlement occurred resulting in collapse of part of a structure prompting authorities to issue a Stop Work order. A source said, “When you have a contractor you expect much from and he fails, it’s disturbing.”
Our reporter who visited the project site last Thursday reported that the place carefully fenced at the back side is bushy and there is no sign that works are being done on the premises. None of the five buildings there has been completed. The big one in the centre that may contain the OPD has been roofed and plastered but left without window panels.
A signboard in front of the place reads: Project – Construction and Equipping of Utako District Hospital. Client – Federal Capital Territory Administration Health and Human Services Secretariat. Consultant – Archcon Consortium. Main Contractor – P.P.C. Ltd. 8 Kofo Abayomi Street Victoria Island Lagos.
P.P.C. Ltd. is reputable for hospital equipping, not construction. The company’s profile reads: “PPC (formerly Philips Projects Centre) is a wholly Nigerian-owned limited liability technology company. Its core activities are primarily geared towards providing specialized integrated solutions and services for turnkey engineering solutions in ICT, Energy/Power, medical and other utility sectors.”
It becomes curious why a firm of this kind will be awarded construction contract of such magnitude.
Following the Stop Work order, a ministerial committee was inaugurated to look into the circumstances that led to the incident and make recommendations. It was headed by the permanent secretary, FCTA, Mr John Chukwu. The committee has since concluded its work but implementation of the recommendations has remained a big issue. Findings have been kept secret.
When asked why the committee’s findings have not been implemented, Chukwu declined to speak. The Director of Public Buildings, Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) Mr Bernard Lot denied knowledge of any incident on the site.
Mrs Fausat Ibikunle who is deputy director of works in FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat equally did not speak. She referred us to the FCT Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretariat, Dr. Demola Onakomaiya. Onakomaiya could not be reached.
Attempts to get the P.P.C. Ltd. to explain cause of the mishap failed. No official was present in its Abuja office when Daily Trust visited over the weekend. Several phone calls to the Abuja head of the office were not answered. Similarly, a text message was not replied. The numerous phone numbers on the company’s website could not be connected.
A disturbing trend in FCT
The way FCTA treats health facilities is becoming worrisome. The policy is that each district should have a government-owned secondary health facility. But some districts have none. Even where the structures are built, they are left fallow for no clear reason(s). The available ones become overstretched. Hospitals designed for 60 beds are forced to take as many as 100 beds.
Many residents complain of having to cover long distances in search for medical care. A resident last year narrated the pains he suffered getting his expectant wife treated in Abuja hospital. They left Karu, waded through the usually crammed Abuja-Keffi highway only to be turned back in Asokoro Hospital. They were not welcome in Maitama Hospital either. They ended the journey in the teaching hospital in Gwagwalada over 40 kilometers away from the main city.
A staff of FCTA told this reporter that structures are built and left to waste citing examples with Karu and Zuba hospitals that have been completed but abandoned. Karu hospital completed many years ago is partly leased to Indian medical firm, Delhi-based Primus Hospital. The Indians have taken 40 percent of the premises leaving the rest which are at times bushy. A source said the Karu hospital completed five years ago was equipped – what was left was posting of personnel to start rendering services when suddenly the Indians were brought in. Some of the equipment might have been either looted or become obsolete, no longer relevant in today’s medical practice.
When Karu hospital was built, the FCT Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretariat said there were not enough personnel to be posted there. What confounds many is the same administration complains that ghost workers are on payroll. No one could say when the ghosts will be weeded out so physical hands can be engaged to fill the void. The general mantra is rise in Abuja population has overwhelmed facilities. Yet, medical facilities are left to waste.
Anyhow, what bothers many is the question, when will the Chukwu-led ministerial committee report be acted upon?