Controversy as N350m Ibori hospital rots away in Delta

IN 2003, Mrs. Nkoyi Ibori, then First Lady of Delta State and the wife of Chief James Ibori, the governor of the state, came up with the idea of creating a sort of medical tourist attraction in the state. The first lady conceived the initiative through her Delta Manna Foundation. As it was fashionable among first ladies of her era, even at the local council level, DMF was Mrs Ibori’s pet project that was used to pursue her vision of providing better lives for children of indigent citizens of the state.

The idea gave birth to a – N350million pediatric hospital, which was sited along the Warri – Port Harcourt axis of the East/West highway in Agbarho, an Urhobo community in Ughelli North Local Government Area of the state. The hospital sat on a massive 10-acre piece of beautiful flat land sourced (some said bought) from the joyous people of the community.

That location was carefully chosen to attract the sick and visitors from all over the region, especially nearby states of Edo, Bayelsa and Anambra. It was difficult to fault the choice of its location by the think-tank that settled on Agbarho after months of deliberation. The hospital that the project gave birth to has the capacity to cater for 40 babies and 20 mothers evenly distributed in two paediatric wards for in-patients. It can also meet the needs of 30 teenage patients in the adolescent wards.

The large expanse of land made available for the project by the Agbarho community stunned a lot of people, because leaders and people of this Urhobo clan are known to jealously guard their lands. Until recently, it was said to be a ‘taboo’ to sell or give out any part of their lands to foreigners. They were even said to be very skeptical about selling to fellow Urhobo people. In spite of this tradition, that later turned out to be their undoing, they freely gave a large chunk of land for the project.

Agbarho is strategically located between the twin cities of Warri and Effurun, which is the commercial capital of the state and Ughelli, the heart of Urhoboland.

A union leader and former Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) in the Delta State, Comrade Ovouzorie Macaulay, supervised the project. Some political analysts see his successful execution of this project as a confirmation of Macaulay’s loyalty to the Ibori dynasty and helped catapult him to political prominence. The former Delta State Council chair of the Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ) would later, after successfully delivering the project, be appointed as the Commissioner for Special Duties, Inter-Ethnic Relations and Conflict Resolution at the height of the Warri crisis in 2004.

Barely a year after the project started with funds sourced mostly from politicians, contractors and benefactors of the Ibori administration’s generosity, the Nkoyo Ibori Children Referral Hospital was inaugurated, amidst fanfare and high hopes by the then Minister of Health, Prof Alphonsus Nwosu. Speaking with this reporter during a pre-opening ceremony inspection of the project, Mrs Ibori boasted that the facility would attract patients from all nooks and crannies of the nation and even beyond the shores of the country.

“It is the first of its kind in this part of the country,” she enthused, flashing a broad smile that revealed beautiful sets of sparkling teeth. As she spoke, she took in the beautiful scene from behind a pair of dark designer sunglasses. No doubt, Mrs. Ibori is a pretty woman, but her joy at the timely completion of the project made her even more radiant. It was a proud moment for her.

Our reporter struggled to catch up with her, taking note as she led aides, officials of the Ibori administration and friends through an inspection tour of the area. The hard soles of her high heel shoes clanked on the concrete floor, making sonorous rhythm with her soft voice as she explained points of interest to this and other reporters who scribbled furiously away on their notepads and at the same time tried to catch up with her assured strides as she walked about the complex on that historic day.

She was decked in a pair of black trousers under a red/white check long-sleeved button-down shirt, sleeves rolled up. Not even the high heels of the matching black shoes could hold her back as she glided through the area, taking in what DMF had accomplished. The sight was picturesque and stimulating. One of the dignitaries joked that the ambience of the environment was enough to heal any sick person – adult or child!

There was a lot of back- patting and commendation; even the then Minister of Health, Prof. Nwosu, was impressed by the quality of the equipment on display at the facility. Thirteen years afterwards, the facility lays in utter ruin. Residents of Agbarho and Ughelli confirmed that it had barely treated any child before its sun set.

The sprawling complex and its beautiful edifices are now barely discernible even from the expressway; even the massive steel bar gates are hidden under a dense mass of weeds. The multi-million naira buildings, ultramodern facilities, state-of-the arts medical facilities and lavish furniture lay in ruin. There was no sight of the brand new ambulance that was attached to the health facility. The scene is a far cry from that beautiful April afternoon, years ago.

The burnt down, rundown environment stands amidst a jungle of overgrown trees and weeds, occupied by rodents, wild animals, snakes and other creatures. Even lunatics and the hoodlums who hijacked the 49-acre facility after its desertion in 2003 have now found it uninhabitable and abandoned it to ritual killers, wild animals and rodents, who are more at home in the thick shrubs and trees that took it over. In 2015, the decomposing remains of a female suspected victim of ritual killers was found inside one of the structures in the building. Several parts of her body and organs were reported missing.

The derelict structures stand as an unabashed testament to a waste of public funds, a missed opportunity for greatness that the state has become synonymous with since its creation. Every time our reporter passes by the facility, the openings in the roofs kept on expanding. It was difficult to tell if the missing roof sheets resulted from decay or fire.

The host community’s members who can throw light on the conundrum of the missing roof sheets are residents of the host community, but a handful of those approached by our reporter recently in search of answers either politely ignored the question or glared. The glares, like everything surrounding Nkoyo Ibori Children Referral Hospital, provided more questions than answers.

One thing, however, is certain – the touted beneficiaries of the multi-million naira equipment are not the ones enjoying it. Some of the amenities being enjoyed by the rodents and other ‘occupants’ of the medical tourists’ attraction include an Intensive Care Unit, five detached bungalows of two and three-bedroom apartments for doctors and nurses, multiple wards for in-patients, theatres, tastefully furnished waiting rooms, offices and incubators. Other facilities include water plant, 500kva generators, a morgue, laundry and spacious car parks.

Explaining how the hospital met its early, unfortunate end, the Osuivie (traditional ruler) of Agbarho Kingdom, Onome Okpalefe Adjarhor III, hinted that the problem was how the initiators of the project acquired the community’s land.

He said: “The land belongs to Agbarho community, and when the government moved to establish a government hospital, 49 acres of land were given to the government of Delta State, during the administration of Chief James Onanefe Ibori, the governor of the state in 2008. When the project was completed for commissioning, there was a misrepresentation on the part of the government: the sign board of the hospital read, Nkoyo Ibori Children Specialist Hospital, which implies that it belongs to the wife of the governor, Chief Mrs. Nkoyo Ibori, and not to the government as planned.

“This angered the people of the community; the community had to send people to the Corporate Affairs Commission, Benin-City, to confirm the project’s name. It was discovered that it was registered as Chief (Mrs.) Nkoyo Ibori’s personal project.” The Agbarho monarch disclosed that his community unanimously sent missives to Governor Ibori, saying: “The hospital you acquired land to build is not a government hospital (and) that if he wants it, he should come and buy the land; that they don’t give their land for private business. This is why the project was stopped and it did not go further. And nobody has heard from him (the governor) since then,” the monarch added.

A high-ranking member of the kingdom, Chief David Okorere, was very blunt about his position on the hospital and the land: “The land has been taken away from the government long time ago; any organisation or government can come for the land and the community is prepared to give it out but with conditions.”

Attempts to speak with those connected with the project were not successful. The chairperson of DMF, Mrs Ibori, was still in London where she was convicted of fraud along with her husband after he left office.

Mr Macaulay, who was contacted by our reporter in Asaba, Mr Aiwerie Okungbowa, refused to speak.  In fact, Okungbowa said Macaulay abruptly hung up his mobile telephone line as soon as he (Okungbowa) introduced himself. “Ever since, I have been trying to reach him without any luck,” the reporter, who was assigned to get Macaulay’s comment, added.