In November 2020, I wrote a piece on the state of healthcare in Kogi State and the Confluence Advanced Medical Diagnostic Imaging Centre (CAMDIC) that was meant to be the beacon of modern healthcare not only in Kogi State but in the wider North Central geopolitical zone.

What had triggered my interest at the time was that the Kogi State Commissioner was on national television crying over the wanton destruction and looting of expensive medical equipment and supplies from the Kogi State Central Medical Stores by EndSARS protesters in late October 2020.

My initial gut instinct was to yell at the looters on television and wondered why those Nigerians who cannot run to India, UK or the US for their medical care when confronted with routine health challenges are the same ones who could steal, loot and destroy expensive critical life-saving medical equipment and supplies.

On arrival in Lokoja, I was dismayed to learn that the Diagnostic Centre that was almost completed and close to being commissioned was caught up in a bureaucratic quagmire that had lasted many years under the same administration from whom the equipment was destroyed.

Like myself, millions of Nigerians have seen a new video making the rounds on both conventional and social media that came out of Kogi State about 2 weeks ago. An angry Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state was giving a public tongue lashing to the Chinese contractor, the Commissioner of Works and you guessed right, the Commissioner of Health. The visibly irritated Governor had come on an assessment tour of the work done on this massive new project in the same hospital premises where the moribund Diagnostic Centre still stands as a COVID-19 Isolation Centre. The Governor who was marking his own script gave it a big, fat “Zero”. He went further to ask the Chinese contractor if there were similar buildings or projects in China. The answer to that question is obviously “No”.

The Chinese government would not tolerate such a building and such level of shoddiness. This is because, in China, incompetence has consequences. Serious consequences! The Chinese government does not joke with incompetence. Remember that President Xi Jinping is an Engineer by training. He makes sure every infrastructure meets standards, unlike what many Chinese firms deliver in Africa and Nigeria in particular. The days of Chairman Mao are gone, and so is the corruption and incompetence of that era. The difference in Chinese diligence is crystal clear in the China of today.

As a journalist and a Nigerian, there are many issues to ponder as we think through the process where hard earned Kogi State money and resources are being squandered in large amounts in order to achieve what GYB himself, assessed as Zero. Zero…

His Excellency, GYB is aware of the critically important Diagnostic Center project next to the premises of the Kogi State Specialist Hospital. It therefore beats my imagination to understand why abandoning this diagnostic Center which was severally praised, if completed, would have ranked among the best in the country with the quality of equipment sourced for it.

It is unfortunate that the Governor wanted to give world class standard of projects which l presumed is the “GYB STANDARD” as he said in the video but it appears the lieutenants around him do not share this vision.

Instead of the world class standard equipment for the Diagnostic Centre being installed and put to good use, they were stored for years until the Medical Stores where they were kept by the Government were vandalized and looted. Equipment worth many billions of Naira destroyed and consumed by civic rage. Sadly, these equipment and supplies were never used to save the lives of Kogi people. It is amazing that no one could whisper to the Governor that this project should be completed as quickly as possible but by some unusual logic, the Governor was advised to embark on another massive project either as renovation of the existing hospital or as a huge administrative edifice.

It is not in doubt that the diagnostic Center should rather have served as a bedrock and necessary support to existing hospitals in the state.

A big question again begging for answers is if truly the Honorable Commissioner of health, Saka Audu was genuinely crying or it was a farce as l contemplated in my first piece titled ‘ medical diagnostic center Lokoja: good idea turned white elephant’ A genuine cry certainly will not allow such Zero job to be undertaken under the crier. His Excellency, l belief deserve better than this.

By some stroke of genius, Kogi State now has two white elephants standing side by side at the Kogi Specialist Hospital in Lokoja. Hopefully, this is not the medical tourism the Commissioner of Health wants the State to attract.

It is high time that His Excellency, the Next Level Governor and the youth ambassador went all out to undertake comprehensive audits and assessment of all projects in the state, that appear botched, Not only in the health sector but in all his laudable projects across the state so he will not be bitten twice. His achievements in Kogi, and the way and manner he handles issues like this at the state level may be the leveler for his far fetched presidential ambitions come 2023. Many concerned Nigerians are watching!!!