On the non-functioning hospital equipment

THE newspapers on Thursday, February 14, 2008, confirmed the worst fears of Nigerians about the equipment supplied to teaching hospitals under the Teaching Hospitals’ Rehabilitation Project of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

An official of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Dr (Mrs) Osiyemi told visiting members of the House of Representatives that the equipment supplied to the University College Hospital are obsolete.

According to her, the mammography machine used to detect and treat breast cancer supplied to the hospital by Vamed Engineering, has not worked since 2004 when it was supplied.

She told the panel that although the machine was replaced in 2005, the new one has also not worked. Worse still, many of the accessories supplied with the equipment by the contractors have also been found to be incompatible with the machine.

These revelations are coming on the heels of earlier claims by the chairman, Resident Doctors Association of the University of Jos Teaching Hospital that many of the equipment supplied under that project were obsolete and constitute danger to the health of workers and patients. At the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital, the hospital management had resisted the installation of some of the equipment supplied under the programme because they were not certified by appropriate regulatory authorities.

These tales of woes from teaching hospitals across the country raise vital questions on the conception and execution of the rehabilitation of teaching hospitals.

The N27billion contract had attracted public attention after it was alleged that members of the Obasanjo family had business links with the contractor who handled the contract. The shoddy execution of the project, so far, has raised questions on the competence and professional pedigree of the contractor. It has also raised queries on the supply of equipment that now seem to be refurbished tokunbo.

Again, could such a sloppy job be worth a whopping N27billion? And was due process followed in the award of the contract?

These are questions that can only be answered by a thorough investigation of the contract. We have to get to the root of this to ensure that any of these machines constituting danger to the lives of Nigerians is quickly withdrawn. We also need to investigate this to recover the N27billion public fund that has been misappropriated on the guise of rehabilitating the teaching hospitals.

Finally, Obasanjo and his family members must be investigated to establish how much public fund is in their care. Only by doing this will future leaders desist from pretending to be fighting corruption while lining their pockets with proceeds from the public till.

Adekunle Adesanya,
10, Ola Street ,
Itire,
Lagos.

Obasanjo did not represent Yoruba

THE publication in your newspaper on Monday, February 11, 2008 by one Dare Adeleke calls for concern.

In the article, the said Adeleke charged that any attack on former President Olusegun Obasanjo will be interpreted as an attack on the Yoruba nation.

It is doubtful if the writer has the approval of Obasanjo for this. However, since he is one of the PDP officers around Commodore Olabode George, it is safe to assume that this is the thinking of this political clique.

Obasanjo never presented himself as a Yoruba leader and never did anything to convince us that he is one of us. In his eight years as president, Obasanjo did not complete a single road in the South West. If this is a lie, let Mr Adeleke mention the name of the road Obasanjo completed. In the eight years that he was president, Obasanjo waged a relentless war on the Yoruba business class. What benefits did the likes of Otunba Mike Adenuga, Otunba Subomi Balogun, Chief Adebayo Adetunji and Alhaji Arisekola Alao get from Obasanjo as president? Nothing! Instead, their businesses were threatened as Obasanjo positioned his business partners in vital sectors of the economy. Adenuga had to run for dear life to escape the mad dog called EFCC unleashed on him by Obasanjo. Before 1999, the Yoruba regerded themselves as active stakeholders in the national economy; today, only Obasanjo’s business fronts and partners flourish while thousands of Yoruba professionals and businessmen languish in poverty.

Obasanjo’s sins against the Yoruba began in 1979 when he pointedly targeted Chief Obafemi Awolowo and said the best candidate may not win the 1979 elections. In 1999, the Yoruba overwhelmingly rejected him and his party, the PDP. He lost in his ward, local government and state. In 2003, he rigged elections and replaced Yoruba leadership made up of academics, lawyers, doctors and successful businessmen with miscreants and celebrated thugs.

Today, the Yoruba nation knows no peace because Obsanjo’s hooligans have been elevated to commanding heights of our social and economic lives. Obasanjo has done more damage to the Yoruba social life than any leader in Nigerian history.

Funsho Adedamola,
Department of History,
University of Ibadan.