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The Special Adviser to the Osun State Governor on Public Health, Dr Akindele Adekunle, has described the outbursts of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on plaques affixed to the newly rehabilitated Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in the state as a calculated attempt to distract attention of the public away from the raging questions of accountability that has dogged its members in the immediate past administration on the utilisation of a $20.5 million grant.
Dr Akindele dismissed as a fallacy the insinuation by the APC that the Adeleke-led government is trying to take credit for job done by former Governor Gboyega Oyetola, calling on the APC to come out of its illusion by embracing the truth of its failures, particularly in the health sector.
“Ordinarily, we would have ignored the ranting of the Osun APC knowing well its usual antics to divert public attention whenever questions of accountability is posed on any of its members,” Dr Akindele noted, adding that “Contrary to the ridiculous notion canvassed by the APC, Gboyega Oyetola did not build any of the PHCs to warrant commissioning as erroneously alluded, rather, it failed to make a huge amount of money received from donor to improve healthcare in the state.”
“The $20.5 million grant under the SAVE ONE MILLION LIVE was pursued and accessed by the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola in 2018 and out of magnanimity, left the utilisation of the fund for Oyetola, who took over from him. Originally, the SOML implementation focus is on six pillars, which are skill birth attendant at delivery, improving routine immunization, reduce mother to child transmission of HIV, malaria control using bed nets, modern contraceptive use for family planning and vitamin A administration to boost child nutrition.
“Nevertheless, the Oyetola administration claimed to have utilised the fund in rehabilitating PHCs and some other items, which available facts proved not to be so. We will address this infraction at a later time.
“We like to cast the mind of the public to a December 11, 2021 investigative publication from online newspaper, Sahara Reporter, with the headline ‘Osun Primary Health Centres In Shambles Despite $20.5 Million Revitalisation Grants’, detailing the shabby work done on the PHCs, which does not justify the huge receipt claimed to have been expended on them.
“This was nearly a year before Governor assumed office, which clearly indicated that there was no job done by the Oyetola administration that the Adeleke administration could have taken credit for as shamelessly implied by the Osun APC. It was this revelation and passionate calls from the public that made the Adeleke administration to conduct a physical assessment of the PHCs, and shockingly, they were in a deplorable conditions.
“A viral video on social media gotten from the Facebook page one Ifedolapo, who is now in the APC, captured the horrible sight of PHCs purportedly rehabilitated by the Oyetola administration. As a Government, it was not acceptable to maintain the hopeless situation, hence, the intervention of the Adeleke administration to fix the PHCs in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard requirements.
“It is therefore petty, worse, and shameless, on the part of the Osun APC, to try and demean the timely intervention of Governor Adeleke in the PHCs that save them from total collapse. To be clear, both the interior and exterior of most of the facilities were in a state of total disrepair, making them not conducive for both personnel and patients. Even worse, the PHCs purportedly rehabilitated by the Oyetola administration were without a stable power source, requiring medical personnel to use torchlight for operations at night and dependable water supply contrary to the standards set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for PHC.
“Good enough, we documented the conditions of the PHCs before intervention and right after it, most of which are shared with the public so that they can understand the enormity of the damage inherited by the Adeleke administration. The truth, which is well known to the public, is that, the $20.5m World Bank grant, although not originally meant for PHCs rehabilitation, were grossly abused, and everyone involved should be made accountable.
“It is even funny to note that the failed PHCs rehabilitation is all what the Osun APC considered as the legacy of Oyetola in four years. It is clear to every discernible mind that without the SOML grant or that Aregbesola had utilised the fund, Oyetola administration will have nothing to even point at as his contribution to the health sector through his four years tenure.
“Without receiving grant or taking loan, the Adeleke administration has successfully rehabilitated over 200 PHCs with stable power source and 24/7 water that serves the facilities and the benefiting communities, in line with WHO standards. And the remaining PHCs to ensure that every political ward is touched will be delivered soon. This makes the insinuation of the Osun APC erroneous because obviously, and as can be asserted to by Osun people, Governor Adeleke is fixing what the APC took money for but failed to do.”
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