The staff of the South West Zonal office of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Ibadan, have expressed dismay at the decision of the Oyo State government to demolish their office structure, at the weekend.
Scavenging for leftover items from the rubbles and loading them into trucks, on Monday, the staff lamented that medical equipment, consumables, drug kits for the delivery of primary health care to the six South West states had been destroyed.
According to South West Zonal Director, Dr. Adefunke Adesope, items worth N500 million had been demolished.
She noted that the agency attempted to salvage items to temporary accommodation for them to continue work, adding that they would take legal action against the state government’s action.
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The continued occupation of the NPHCDA office sited at Oyo State Government’s Residential Quarters No. 826 at Agodi, Ibadan by NPHCDA had been a subject of protracted battle since 2018 when the state government initially asked NPHCDA to vacate the location.
The state government had in a letter dated 22nd November 2018 asked the NPHCDA to vacate the property it occupied since 1986 noting that it wanted to use the site for another purpose.
However, the federal ministry of health had in a memo NPHCDA/SWZ/447 beckoned on the state government to allow the agency continue its operation because of Ibadan’s central position as the headquarters of the South West.
Following the pasting of a quit notice on the gate of the NPHCDA office on 7th May 2017, the agency had in a letter dated 9th May 2019, requested for an extension of time to enable them to vacate the property without disruption of its services.
However, the state government had maintained that the NPHCDA had become illegal occupants, since it pasted the quit notice, asking the agency to utilize their office at the federal secretariat, Ikolaba, Ibadan.
Following up on its quit notice, the state government had on Monday, 20th May 2019 demolished the agency’s fence and gate before bulldozers moved in last Friday’s to demolish other structures.
According to Special Adviser, Bureau of Physical Planning and Development Control, Oyo state, Mr. Waheed Gbadamosi, the state government had given NPHCDA adequate time to pack out through several notices but the agency was not keen on leaving.
He explained that the state government needed its property for another purpose and resorted to pulling down the structure because of the insistence of the agency not to leave despite several communications.
“The state government has given more than a year’s notice that they should leave because the government wants to use the place for another purpose. It’s unfortunate that that quarters 826 they are occupying has gone into an illegal occupation.
“They are more or less a squatter and have refused to leave. Notices were given them but they insisted on not leaving and it was going out of time for those to work on the place to do so. So the government decided that the best thing is to pull down the structure. It’s government building so the government pulled it down. “We gave them something to use and we want the property back.
They have another office they can use within the federal secretariat. You cannot have two offices performing the same function as space is limited. We have had interactions with their officials but they are insisting on not leaving as if it is their property. They have the right to go to court and when we get to court, the lawyers will prove it,” Gbadamosi said.
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