A group of young professionals under the umbrella of Legacy Stars of Ibadan (LSI), an affiliate of the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, to investigate the management of the University College Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan. The group raised concerns over recurring power outages at the teaching hospital, which they attribute to unresolved debts and potential mismanagement.
In a statement issued after their monthly meeting at Ibadan House, Oke Aremo, LSI revealed that UCH has faced repeated disconnections from the power grid by the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) due to unpaid electricity bills. The most recent outage occurred in November, following a similar incident in March.
Call for Accountability
The statement, signed by LSI President Mogaji Saheed Oyewale and Secretary Barrister Kazeem Oladepo, urged the federal government to investigate UCH’s leadership over the past decade to uncover the root causes of its financial challenges and power supply issues.
“When there is no light, major things that should be done will not be done,” the statement read. “The hospital is facing a lot of challenges, and we don’t want this to continue. Many people who are supposed to get medical attention in the hospital could not be attended to, and this will have negative consequences on public health outcomes.”
Broader Concerns Raised
LSI described the hospital’s situation as a national embarrassment, emphasizing that UCH, as a top-tier healthcare institution, should not be grappling with such basic operational issues.
“The federal government should take immediate action to address this. UCH as a tertiary health institution should not be in this sorry condition,” the group stated.
Background
UCH, one of Nigeria’s most renowned teaching hospitals, has long been plagued by infrastructure and operational challenges. The power outages, reportedly caused by significant debts owed to IBEDC, have raised concerns about the hospital’s ability to deliver critical medical services.
LSI’s demand for transparency and reform reflects growing public frustration over the state of healthcare infrastructure in the country. The group hopes that a federal probe will shed light on the hospital’s management and lead to sustainable solutions for its recurring issues.
The federal government and Professor Pate are yet to respond to the group’s demands. Meanwhile, the persistent challenges at UCH continue to affect patients and healthcare delivery in the region.
