Lagos Assembly Promises To Provide Adequate Healthcare For Residents Through PHCs ...Begins Inspections

Lagos State House of Assembly has begun inspections of all the Primary Health Centers (PHCs) in the 20 Local Government Areas and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state with a view of increasing healthcare services in the cosmopolitan state.

The visit by the Adhoc Committee of the House, constituted for that purpose and chaired by Hon. Noheem Adams, the House Deputy Majority Leader, representing Eti Osa Constituency 1, began on Wednesday April 5, 2023.

Councils visited by the Committee included Ikeja Local Government, Agege Local Government, Orile Agege Local Council Development Area and Ojokoro LCDA.

Commenting on the PHCs in the visited councils, Hon. Adams noted that some of the centers needed upgrading, more staff, provision of more equipments and facilities.

The lawmaker however, commended the Chairman of Orile Agege LCDA, Hon. Johnson Sunday Babatunde for providing modern PHCs named Claudia Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu PHC and Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa PHC, which is still under construction, saying that it is rare to find such buildings and facilities in PHCs funded by a local council.

"Our mandate is to visit all the PHCs in the state with a view of ascertaining their challenges and making recommendations to the appropriate quarters.

"But we were surprised with what we saw in Orile Agege LCDA, this is quite impressive based on the amount of resources available to local governments in Nigeria generally.

"We thank the Chairman for doing a good job. We want others to emulate him and we have noted the challenges in other places visited. We will ensure that we go round others in all the our LGs and LCDAs in record time based on the mandate given to us by the House," he said.

Hon. Adams then commended the Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa, who he said is providing a good leadership that culminated in the exercise, adding that more would be done as the House is set for the 10th Assembly from June, 2023.

Also speaking in an interview, a member of the Committee, Hon. Surajudeen Tijani, representing Ojo Constituency 2, said that good health is the fundamental right of the people. 

Tijani said that the state house of assembly takes this as a priority and that the issue of Primary Health Centers (PHCs) was raised  on the floor of the House in a Motion.

"Having visited some of the hospitals, we discovered some lapses, but we are encouraged by what we saw in Orile Agege LCDA. 

"We want the council chairmen to concentrate on the health sector to give our people a relief, especially now that most of our general hospitals are congested," he said.

In his own comments, another member of the Committee, Hon. Femi Saidi, representing Kosofe Constituency 2, stated that the visits showed that the leadership of the House of Assembly, led by Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa, is apt in giving account to the people on how PHCs should be. 

"In view of our findings, we experienced the issue of understaffing and inadequate facilities, so we will come out with recommendations on how to get the best in the area of healthcare in Lagos State," he said.

Chairman of Orile Agege LCDA, Hon. Johnson Sunday Babatunde, while commenting, gave appreciation to God for the opportunity, which he said they were given to serve. 

Babatunde added that the inspiration for the modern PHCs came prior to the break out of COVID-19 pandemic, when he traveled to the United Kingdom and went to Birmingham, where he saw Queen Elizabeth Specialist Hospital. 

"The Holy Spirit then told me that "what are you doing for your people." That was the turning point. I called my team, when I got back to Nigeria and I told them that this is what I want and that the people must enjoy the dividends of democracy. 

"We are a model for others to follow. But we want the Federal Government to increase our allocations," he said.

The Chairman recalled that, while they were commissioning Claudia Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu Primary Health Center (PHC), Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa said that local governments in Nigeria needed to be supported so that they could provide more people-oriented projects.

He then urged the Lagos State House of Assembly to do the exercise on a regular basis.

The Chairman of Ojokoro LCDA, Hon. Ahmed Idowu Tijani, in an interview with journalists, commended the leadership of the Assembly for the foresight to visit the PHCs in the state. 

Tijani stated that the visit is a welcome development, and that it would give the lawmakers first hand information about the centers and that they would tell the council chairmen, where to improve to serve the people better.

"Since the inception of our administration, we have been trying to do our best to see that our people enjoy good health and we have done some rehabilitations. 

"Where we are now, we have a prototype that we will work on, which will be in line with what the state Ministry of Health wants," he said.