Oyo State Government has criticised the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state for accusing Governor Seyi Makinde of turning a blind eye to the plight of the University College Hospital (UCH), following the disconnection of power supply to the tertiary health institution by Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) over alleged indebtedness.
Oyo APC had in a statement issued on Tuesday by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, lamented that Makinde’s administration did not intervene in UCH’s plight, despite the hospital serving mostly the people of the state.
“UCH, which is a stone’s throw from the office of Makinde had to be without electricity supply for about three months. This had negative effects on the productivity of the staff and students, as well as, numerous patients, but the state government looked away,” Sadare said.
Responding, a statement by the Special Adviser on Media to Governor Makinde, Dr Sulaimon Olanrewaju, said it is unfortunate that the APC is so “shameless that it is thumping its chest on the issue of UCH-IBEDC imbroglio instead of covering its face in shame.”
Olanrewaju noted that the state government is not surprised because APC will play politics with anything, even with the agony and pains of the people they were elected to serve.
“The fact is that the problem at UCH was not caused by the Oyo State Government. Rather, it was due to the failure of the Federal Government to live up to its promise of subsidising the cost of electricity to hospitals.
Last year August, the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, publicly declared that the Federal Government would subsidise electricity in teaching hospitals following the categorisation of electricity users into bands.
That was six months ago. The question to ask is, has the Federal Government fulfilled its promise? So, why should the APC now choose to blame the Oyo State Government for a problem created by the insensitivity of the Federal Government?
“Had the Federal Government fulfilled its promise of subsidising its own institution as it promised, would the UCH be in this state?
“Now, shall we ask the APC that after the Minister has intervened in the UCH-IBEDC face-off, will he also go to Lagos to resolve the issue between LUTH and Eko Disco should there be a problem, or go to Maiduguri to plead with the electricity distribution company not to disconnect University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital?
“Come on, governance is a much more serious business than that. Governance is for serious-minded people, not clowns. Nigeria surely deserves better than these jesters who are just junketing all over the place glamorising common problems instead of thinking out of the box to get permanent solutions to them.
“In Oyo State, we don’t paper over the cracks; we go to the roots of issues to get permanent solutions,” he said.
