Oyo State government has lambasted the All Progressives Congress APC in the state saying” It is unfortunate that the broom party is so shameless that it is thumping its chest on the issue of University College Hospital-Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company imbroglio”.
This is coming as the Oyo state chapter of APC said it regretted that the state government of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde turned a blind eye at the tertiary health institution which mostly serves the people of the state.
Following the reports of the disconnection of power supply to the UCH by the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) over an alleged indebtedness of the management of the first teaching hospital owned by the federal government, Adebayo Adelabu ,Minister of power on Monday met with relevant stakeholders on Monday in Ibadan in which the issues were resolved.
But in a statement of Tuesday, Sulaimon Olanrewaju, Special Adviser on Media to Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde stated that “but we are not surprised because APC will play politics with anything, even the agony and pains of the people they were elected to serve.
Read also: UCH medical students protest 100-day power outage
While saying that the problem at UCH was not caused by the Oyo State Government, Olanrewaju said “rather, it was due to the failure of the Federal Government to live up to its promise of subsidizing cost of electricity to hospitals.
“Last year August, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, publicly declared that the Federal Government would subsidise electricity in teaching hospitals following the categorization 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 Oyo State Government for a problem created by the insensitivity of the Federal Government? Had the Federal Government fulfilled its promise of subsidizing 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 glamorizing 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 added.
Earlier, the Oyo APC described the intervention of the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, which facilitated immediate restoration of electricity supply to the University College Hospital, Ibadan as a testament to the commitment of the administration of President Bola Tinubu to its Renewed Hope agenda aimed at making life better for the citizenry.
In a statement on Tuesday by Olawale Sadare, its Publicity Secretary said the UCH which is a stone throw away from the office of Governor Makinde had to be without electricity supply for about three months as this had its negative effects on the productivity of the staff and students as well as numerous patients but the state government looked away.
The statement read, “It is a thing of joy that the Minister visited Ibadan yesterday with a magic wand and all issues between the managements of the UCH and IBEDC were amicably resolved as reports have it that power supply has been restored now. We hereby express our profound gratitude to President Bola Tinubu who gave the Minister his kind permission to intervene and save the situation for the sake of the citizenry as well as the image of the country in view of the fact that the UCH is a globally recognized teaching hospital.
“Interestingly, the rescue mission which brought the Minister of Power and his team to Ibadan yesterday was not all about brokering peace between the managements of the UCH and the electricity distribution company.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
