PDP supporters tackle Lagos council over stalled PHC renovation

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) supporters  in Oshodi-Isolo Local Government area of Lagos on Friday flayed the decision of the council authorities to stop the ongoing rehabilitation of Ewu-Tuntun Primary Health Centre l (PHC) in the area.
The rehabilitation of the PHC, according to the supporters, was facilitated by Mr Mutiu Shadimu, a PDP member representing Oshodi-Isolo 1 Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.
The party supporters, at a rally held close to the health centre, urged the council authorities led by its Sole Administrator, Mr Adebayo Taiwo, not to use party differences to hinder the people from getting the benefits of democracy.
Taiwo, the sole administrator, is one of the 57 appointees of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Lagos State Government overseeing affairs in local governments and local council development areas in the state.
Alhaji Adesina Toriola, who led the rally, appealed to residents of Oshodi-Isolo to prevail on the leadership of the council to change its stance and allow completion of the rehabilitation.
He also kicked against an alleged attempt to turn the health centre into an event centre.
“We are having a peaceful rally to let the entire world and this constituency in particular know the order from APC to stop the rehabilitation of this health centre by a PDP house of reps member.
“During our campaign in 2015, we promised to deliver dividends of democracy and the House of Representatives, through Hon. Mutiu Shadimu, included this project; it is a federal government project.
“Shadimu visited this area during his campaign and it was in a bad shape without maternity beds, which made the lawmaker to include its rehabilitation in the 2016 budget.
“The APC in the local government saw the rehabilitation going on in this place and when the work reached about 90 per cent completion, they came to inform us that it is the council property.
“Democracy is government of all; the PDP House of Representatives member is responsible to all residents, not only its members,’’ he said.
According to him, Shadimu took up the challenge to make the health centre a better place.
Toriola said the PDP enjoyed the support of the masses in the constituency, urging the council to stop playing politics with the project.
When contacted, the sole administrator, who confirmed the order to stop work on the rehabilitation, said the federal lawmaker did not consult with council leadership before carrying out the work.
Taiwo, who affirmed that some health centres had been abandoned for a while and appreciated the intention of Shadimu, said the PHC had been marked for relocation to a better, spacious and more conducive location.
“PHC is the property of the local government, and as the head of the council, we are supposed to be aware and give approval. The lawmaker didn’t channel his intention through proper authority.
“We just got a call that some people are working there and we saw it as a way to score a political point, so we had to stop it because there is a constituted authority and protocol.
“Meanwhile, this PHC has been marked for relocation to a better, bigger and more conducive place on Ogundele Street, just a stone throw from there, by next month.
“This one is not conducive again. It is dilapidated. We have set up a mega one. The lawmaker ought to have written to the local government, even at that, approval has to come from the ministry of local government and community affairs.
“If we were informed, we would have told the lawmaker that the PHC had been moved to a mega one. It doesn’t make economic sense to do anything in the old PHC long abandoned,” Taiwo said.
The sole administrator said if the council had been properly informed, such funds would have been channelled to other laudable projects for the common good of residents.
He said that the council had completed renovation and equipping of the new PHC and the one in the council Secretariat which would be inaugurated in May.
On whether the lawmaker’s rehabilitation work on the PHC would be a waste, Taiwo, said that there were lots of things the government could use the place for.
Taiwo said it was untrue that the PHC building had been sold to people who wanted to use it as an event centre.

POSTED BY:OPUOMONI PRIYE
DATE:04/21/2017