Another one of those blood-boiling stories.
This hospital has been in existence (and fully-equipped) for TWO YEARS, but for more-than-silly reasons on the part of the Maiduguri state government, the people of Maiduguri have been deprived of the "world-class" treatment this hospital could have provided. And then the governor dares to talk about how the people would have benefitted had it not been burned down!
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Unused hospital razed in Nigeria - BBC Africa
A fully-equipped hospital that lay unused for two years has burned to the ground in northern Nigeria.
The General Hospital in Maiduguri was built in 2006 but the state government refused to open it until the president came to cut the ribbon.
Several surgical theatres, the intensive care ward, and the clinical section which held millions of dollars of equipment were all destroyed.
The president was due to visit the hospital next month to open it.
Borno State Governor Ali Modu Sheriff blamed the fire on arsonists who wanted to damage his political reputation.
The governor had refused to open the hospital, which was ready for patients in June 2006, until former President Olusegun Obasanjo came to the state.
His visit was postponed several times, the last being just two months before the election in 2007.
His successor Umaru Yar'adua was due to visit later next month.
Measles outbreak
Borno was recently hit by a measles outbreak that killed hundreds of children across three states.
Existing hospitals in Borno are poorly equipped and overcrowded.
Angry residents of Bulunkutu, where the hospital was situated, gathered around the burned hospital and shouted abuse at the alleged arsonists, local papers reported.
The governor addressed the arsonists through the media.
"There is not one hospital in the country owned by a state government that has the type of world class equipment we had in there. It is their people that would have benefitted," he told reporters at the scene.
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11 comments:
'There is not one hospital in the country owned by a state government that has the type of world class equipment we had in there. It is their people that would have benefitted'
I saw the piece on the news, its a shame really but what struck me was this comment particularly the last line, what does the governor mean by 'their people', are they not his people? or because he is governor, he sees himself as somewhat different?
its a pity human lives are of no value to some of the so called leaders, i wonder why measle outbreak could claim so much lives when it could have been prevented, its so sad really,
i pray that God will touch these leaders to do wats right.
yep, that last line struck me as well...'it is their people that would have benefitted'...what did he mean by that?..as if he was a foreigner...that sort of attitude is unneeded and leads to such fuckery....can you blame the people?...you have a wonderful hospital, sitting unused because you are waiting for some so-called president to come and cut some ribbon?...what nonsense...then they should have waited and built it when the president would be around immediately after to open the hospital...i didn't understand the sense in that....very annoying indeed...see the waste of resources!...that governor should be held responsible...
That comment struck me as well. I looked at it and though...nooo, it can't be what i think it means. I then rationalized it to: he was telling the arsonists, that it would have been their pp (his as well, but trying to make them feel the gravity of what they'd done, he insisted on "their"). This is the optimistic me reaching for sth in the dark. But definitely, first thought was, no you didn't just refer to your constituents as someone ELSE's people!
In full agreement that this governor should be held responsible for this waste. He needs to account for how much was spent on that hospital, and be charged a certain percent of that out-of-pocket to go to the rebuilding of the hospital. High-profile arsons in Nigeria (e.g. NNPC building in Ikoyi some years back) tend to have some underlying story behind them, and the conspiracy theorist in me doesn't buy that some random villagers just felt the urge to burn down a town asset. question is, what next? What is the government going to do about rebuilding this hospital?
thanks for the comments folks!
yes, i read abt it and it made my blood boil indeed. it reeks of total illiteracy to keep a fully-equipped hospital closed cos you're waiting for someone to cut a ribbon. they should all be shot
speechless, more happenings from the land of the absurd.
why blame the arsonist? this is political grandstanding!...this governor wants to impress it on the presidents and the people of Borno that accolades is far more important than providing healthcare services to his people.
it just shows how low we can go in (s)electing knuckleheads in govt offices!
This is so unsettling...i won't even bother to comment on the governors last line. The fact that there was a world class hospital just sitting there unused because of a meaningless ceremony just shows how unqualified the people in the position of power are.
What true governor, what true compatriot, what true honest good heart citizen would deny the family, friends, neighbors and citizens (that elected them - arguable, but let's go with it) the access to the basic health care that they not only deserve but is their right.
It's people like this that just infuriate me, and makes me strongly believe politicians should be held accountable for not only what they do, but what they don't.
Indeed things that makes one say Y????
That is nothing but sheer madness display in broad daylight, tehu eseless government should be hang as tehy are responsible, measle oytbreak and yet no use of hospital!
Its incidents like tghis that makes me glad teh arsonists did what tehy did although I know that's not the solution but honestly, I can only keep hoping and bel;eiveing for change for Nigeria but I ask, how can change coem when we have these 'crcodiel egg heads' for leaders?
They are so pathetic, thta's y i say Nigerian leaders (currently) are ignorant compared to their counterparts, look @ UAE, they got independence in '71, amalgamation of tyeh sultans and Dubai is a testimony in itself, how is the country conducting itself? No, not Nigeria, lack of proper education and greed will not make its current leaders think.
Afrobeat, I always find ur posts sensitive as it saddens my heart. I hate powerlessness, yet dat's how i feel as I can't do as much as I'd love to but, great post as usual.
How u dey now?
Jesus! what a load of crap! With the way the health care is in that country, they should have opened it before it was even painted! Hissssssssssss. At the same time I can imagine the frustration of the people that did it, a moment of anger and frustration, who knows, perhaps relatives of dying sick people? Anyway, they should not have burnt it down. This is what the media is supposed to be doing, they should have made this news before it was burnt down. Too bad.
Only in Nigeria..
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