Outrage as Adeleke Government Abandons Federal SDG Hospital in Ipetumodu ~ By Nathaniel Ogunsola

Fresh concerns have emerged over the continued neglect of critical healthcare infrastructure in Osun State as the 80-bed Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Hospital in Ipetumodu, Ife North Local Government Area, remains abandoned nearly three years after it was commissioned and handed over to the Osun State Government.

The multi-million-naira hospital, facilitated under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari and commissioned in May 2023 during the closing days of the federal government’s tenure, was built to strengthen healthcare delivery in the Ipetumodu axis. The facility, which was expected to complement the overstretched Ipetumodu General Hospital, has instead become a silent monument to governmental neglect under Governor Ademola Adeleke.

Rather than putting the facility to use for the benefit of residents, the Adeleke administration has allowed the hospital to deteriorate, with weeds overtaking parts of the compound and critical infrastructure beginning to suffer damage due to prolonged abandonment. The only visible presence at the expansive complex is a lone security guard stationed at the gate.

The abandonment of the SDG Hospital in Ipetumodu follows a troubling pattern that has characterized the Adeleke administration’s treatment of federally facilitated projects in Osun State.

A similar fate befell the Child and Mother Hospital at Oke-Onitea in Osogbo, a modern healthcare facility donated to the state government by the APC-led federal government. Instead of fully utilizing the facility for maternal and child healthcare services, allegations recently surfaced that equipment from the hospital was removed by the state government.

According to widespread complaints by concerned citizens and stakeholders in the health sector, some of the equipment at the Child and Mother Hospital was allegedly carted away to support the accreditation of postgraduate programmes at the Osun State University Teaching Hospital.

The development has raised serious questions among residents. Many have asked why the state government would remove equipment donated by the federal government for another purpose when it could simply purchase its own equipment.

The question becomes even more pressing when one considers the humongous revenue that has accrued to the Adeleke administration over the last three years through federal allocations and internally generated revenue.

If the state government has indeed generated such massive revenue as it frequently claims, why must it resort to relocating equipment meant for a federal government-built hospital in order to secure accreditation for its programmes?

More troubling are growing suspicions in political circles that the neglect of these federal government projects may not be accidental.

Rumours making the rounds suggest that the Adeleke administration may be deliberately frustrating the take-off and proper use of federally facilitated facilities across the state in order to deny the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) visible achievements to campaign with during the forthcoming governorship election.

By allowing these projects to remain unused or underutilized, critics argue that the state government hopes to sustain its long-running propaganda that the APC has not done anything meaningful for Osun State.

However, the continued abandonment of critical healthcare infrastructure ultimately punishes ordinary citizens, particularly vulnerable mothers, children, and rural residents who desperately need access to quality medical care.

For the people of Ipetumodu and surrounding communities, the imposing 80-bed SDG Hospital now stands as a painful reminder of what could have been — a fully functioning medical lifeline that has instead been left idle by a government that appears unwilling to activate it.